He Is My Master: Elemental Summoner Naruto!
by Kgmck177
Summary: Naruto finds much more than he bargained for in the Forbidden Scroll. He finds power, knowledge, and family and with it, he will carve a path into the future, following his own nindo, with the help of some unexpected friends. Naru/Tayu Naru/Hina OC/OC
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**He Is My Master: Elemental Summoner Naruto!**

**Hi all Naruto fans, it's me Kgmck177! *I do not own Naruto or any obviously referenced material and gain no profit from this fanfiction, so you lawyers can stuff it!* Also I thank Saemon for inspiring me with his Prologue as it helped me write my own.**

**Anyways for all the Sakura-supporters out there, I want you to know that while I will be bashing her around a lot, she may yet be redeemed later on. Also, I am a big fan of the Naruto/Tayuya pairing, since it's uncommon and looks a lot like Minato/Kushina and is generally funny, however I may decide on the Naru/Hina pairing, depending on how you people want it to progress, or even have them both with Naruto. Anyways this story is AU slightly, in that Naruto discovers more in the Forbidden Scroll incident and discovers his heritage early on, meaning he's also going to bash that arrogant piece of shit Sasuke around. However, there will be no Kakashi bashing, since I like him. You don't like it? Don't even bother reading past this point.**

**Anyways please review, constructive criticism is welcome. Please, however, no flaming about my 'unfairly' bashing around characters you like or strange pairings or anything else. Anyways I've ranted enough, let's get on with this!**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

_Konoha…_

"Madara broke Kushina's seal and disappeared with the Kyuubi?"

The night was dark and oppressive to Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The wind howled past the window of the Hokage's Office as rain poured from the sky like senbon. Minato frowned in thought, contemplating on what to do. His duty as Hokage was clear: Protect and serve the village by any means necessary to ensure the peace and security lasted, even at the cost of his life… or at the life of his family. The truth was that Minato had designed, with the help of his sensei Jiraiya, a new seal powered by his chakra and that of the Shinigami's that could hold just about anything indefinitely. Even the rampaging Kyuubi could be held… however to do so would cost him his life and soul in payment for the services rendered by the Shinigami. Also, the storage medium had to have a chakra network of its own, one that was newly formed so that it would have the ability to cope with the influx of youki, the Kyuubi's poisonous chakra. Kushina had survived the Kyuubi's release thanks in part to her chakra's special attribute that had helped her contain it in the first place after Mito had had to pass on the malevolent Bijuu lest it be released into the world again.

"Kuso… things look quite grim… don't they, Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato asked quietly, his voice stoic.

"They do indeed gaki. You really plan to go through with this? Sarutobi-sensei would do this without question," the Toad Sage replied wearily, with no small amount of concern. "Though your idea to use Kushina's chakra as well to reinforce the seal is... I can't believe I have to say this... a good idea."

"I know… I know… but if we can't make this sacrifice for the safety of the village, how can I ask anyone else as Hokage?" Minato answered with a sigh. "Naruto will grow up without his parents and the life of a Jinchuuriki is never pleasant, either from the demon or the social stigma that comes with it. Kushina was treated well enough but if Madara releases the Kyuubi on us like I think he will then a lot of people are going to die no matter what I do. Kushina's still recovering but we'll be ready for the sealing in a few hours. Can I trust you to help care for our son in our place?"

"I can't make any promises Minato… you know I can't. As much as I'd love to, I have to maintain the spy-network for Konoha and Sarutobi-sensei isn't getting any younger," Jiraiya remarked, adding the last part with a dry chuckle.

"As old as I am, Jiraiya, my hearing is as sharp as ever," the aforementioned 'God of Shinobi' shot back.

Jiraiya grinned sheepishly as the three men looked back out the window, watching the village as the people ran about outside. If Minato was forced to seal the Kyuubi within Naruto just after he was born, the Council would want him to be raised as a soulless weapon from day one. Especially that war-mongering self-proclaimed patriot Danzo, who seemed to have ears everywhere as he was already informed of the Kyuubi's release, even though Minato had witnessed the event an hour ago, and the knowledge had yet to be spread to the Shinobi council. Plus if Minato sacrificed himself to save the village, Sarutobi would be forced to retake the mantle of Sandaime Hokage.

"Well, we need some assurance that Naruto will grow up with as stable a childhood as possible. We can't let any of the clans take him in, even if they were willing, as to do so would cause unrest in the other clans, especially the Uchiha. There are rumours spreading that the Uchiha feel they deserve more power than they already have. I feel that we may have to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto regardless so that he can have the power needed to repel Madara if he ever shows himself," Minato mused.

"Why not make him a ward of the village then?... but who would care for him while he's an infant? Hmm, send him to the orphanage?" Jiraiya thought out loud.

"I suppose it will have to do, at least until he's old enough to care for himself… wait, what about _them_?" Sarutobi added. "They do owe Minato-kun after all..."

"Who? You don't mean- Sensei are you MAD! They're just hired guns, they have no allegiance to _anyone_, and you want them to look after Naruto? Even if we could convince them, how would we make sure they kept their word?" Jiraiya exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, Mitsukai has sent word that her daughter has awakened their kekkei genkai and is now training to be a kunoichi… maybe we could offer them an exchange? They look after Naruto until he's older and we give their heir training as a ninja?" Jiraiya responded excitedly.

"It won't work…"

"Don't be such a pessimist Minato, I'm sure they could be persu-"

"No. However you've given me an idea. Send word to the Tsurara, Sumiyaka and Ikazuchi* that I wish to hire their services," Minato sharply interjected.

"Those three? Sure, as Hidden Ninja go they're the best at what they do, but don't you think it would be better if we tried to make them stay in Konoha?" Jiraiya replied, squinting at Minato, as if trying to work out what he was thinking.

Minato turned to Jiraiya with a grin that could only be described as 'foxy' and looked his sensei in the eye before saying.

"That would rather defeat the purpose of them being _Hidden_ ninja wouldn't it? But if they agree to my plan, it will work out for all of us, hopefully for the better," Minato answered confidently.

"Geez, even knowing you're going to die, you still find it easy to smile. I just hope you know what you're doing gaki…" Jiraiya said.

"Whatever you say… Ero-sennin," Minato said before vanishing in a flash of yellow light, smirking all the while.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

_Elsewhere…_

"This is a stroke of genius. If all goes according to plan, the Yondaime will sacrifice himself to save his village and create a Jinchuuriki for the Nine-Tails. Then we will finally be able to capture the hosts of the Bijuu and the world shall know peace… through pain."

"Yes, and Konoha itself will be a little closer to understanding that pain. It is futile to try and _defeat_ the Nine-Tails in combat, as one cannot hope to fight a force of nature itself."

"I care not if Konoha learns about pain. I just want to see that village destroyed and the Kyuubi imprisoned so that _my_ plans can go ahead as predicted."

"As you say… Madara-sama."

_5 hours later, outskirts of Konoha…_

Minato sighed in resignation. It had truly come to this. The Kyuubi had appeared suddenly just beyond the gates, attacking the brave ninja that were trying vainly to stop its advance, its sudden terrifying presence and malevolent chakra sending the citizens of Konoha in panic and chaos. The streets were filled as people ran around screaming and fleeing in fear. The Yondaime stood upon the wall, watching the battle with his arms crossed with a small bundle held in them. He had just come from his office after making some last minute adjustments to his will and the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. Kushina stood beside him, her eyes darkened in exhaustion. She had yet to fully recover and adapt to Kyuubi's absence.. unfortunately she wouldn't get that chance. They looked down at their son, sleeping peacefully, blissfully unaware of the fate that his parents were about to force upon him.

"Sochi… Naruto… f-forgive me. I can't imagine how your life is going to turn out, but I know it will be hard. You must s-stay strong and not let anything break your spirit. I know you can carry this burden… _I believe in you_!" Minato whispered, his voice trembling as tears began to pool in the corners of his sapphire blue eyes. "Your mother and I love you Naruto… and we're proud of you."

Unable to say anymore as his voice gave out, Minato pressed his thumb against the sharp stud on his belt, causing it to bleed. Focusing his chakra, Minato held onto Naruto with one arm and leapt forward off of the wall and above the forest that gave Konoha its name with Kushina following him a second behind. Quickly forming one-handed seals, Minato splayed his hand out, pointing it at the ground as he cried,

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu!_"

A seal array made of his own chakra briefly illuminated the area under his palm before a great cloud of smoke erupted from it, smooth and moist skin coming into contact with his hand as the jutsu did its work. Minato stood, careful not to disturb Naruto, his feet upon a reddish-brown hide. The smoke began to clear, revealing a giant toad in a yakuza styled jacket with an immense tanto strapped to its back. Kushina landed softly beside him, tears flowing down her beautiful, heart-shaped face. Her brilliant red hair flared out behind her in the wind, whipping around like angry snakes. Under their feet the immense toad looked around for whoever had summoned it.

"_**What's going on here? Why have I been summoned?" **_the creature exclaimed.

"I'm sorry Gamabunta-sama, but it's time," Minato called out.

"_**Ah Gaki… so you're really going to do it? Just so you know, not even I can hold back the Nine-Tailed fox for long. You'd better make this QUICK!" **_Gamabunta exclaimed as he eyed the demonic beast in the distance.

As said beast slowly walked towards the village it began to thrash about even more then before, causing its nine tails to further demolish the forest around it. Every Konoha ninja available above genin rank had gathered at the southern gate to defend their home against the invader, although almost all of the shinobi that had gathered there were sure there was not much they could do to stall it long, let alone defeat it. The newest Genin were nearby as well, wanting to join in the fight to protect their homes. Minato had ordered one of the Chunin to keep them back from the battlefield. Quicker then a blink of the eye, every Anbu as well as their captain appeared in front of the nervous and fearful group of shinobi. It was expected that they were this way, even though the shinobi code dictates that a ninja must have no emotions, the most cold-hearted assassins would still cower in fear at the amount of killer intent the beast was blasting at the populace of Konoha. The pressure was so great that a great many ninja were having trouble breathing and a few were even reaching for their weapons preparing to take their own life to end the suffering they felt, to end the pure rage that was beating down upon them as the Kyuubi poured forth its hatred and malice into the chakra that permeated the air around it like a shroud. The Anbu Captain was also beginning to feel the pressure of the beast's enormous amount of killer intent. It was like there was an immeasurable amount of weight bearing down on his very soul, crushing it, grinding it into dust. Glancing around he noticed that many of his fellow shinobi were also suffering heavily and many looked like they were about to commit suicide. If anyone were to look at the Anbu gathered many would think that they were completely unaffected by the demon's killer intent mainly due to the masked faces, but the captain knew his men well and could tell from the subtle movements of their bodies that they were terrified as well.

With a long, sad sigh the Anbu Captain looked up into the eyes of those gathered before him, knowing that many would die before the night was out and they all knew it too. Letting out another sigh he addressed all those in front of him. "Everyone! We are here tonight not to defend our home against tyranny or oppression from our enemy nations… but from total annihilation. We're fighting for our right to live! The Kyuubi cares nothing for our home and will destroy everything we hold dear, unless we rise us to stop it!"

The ninja around the Captain looked up as he spoke those words. They weren't completely awe-inspiring, but it reminded some, especially those who had fought in wars, of what they were here for. They were here to defend their country, their village, their home. The Captain was pleased that he at least had gained the attention of his fellow shinobi, even the ones trying to commit seppuku had paused to look up.

"We are the village that has survived some of the toughest challenges and disasters in history and still lived on. This is just one more challenge that we, the ninja of Konohagakure no Sato, must face and we will face it head on with courage and without regret! Yondaime-sama has come up with a way to stop the beast but it will take time, therefore our mission is to stall the demon as long as possible so that we can give him enough time to finish the final preparations. We are shinobi and today we fight for our home, we fight for our way of life, we fight with the Will of Fire itself and for the future of our village and we will win! FOR KONOHA!" As the Anbu Captain yelled the last two words he reached into his weapon pouch and withdrew three kunai in each hand and ran in the direction of the approaching kitsune followed by all his Anbu and fellow ninja, all with a small look of determination and pride in their eyes.

Minato watched this proudly as the shinobi of Konoha, _his _shinobi charged the demon fearlessly, battle cries carrying through the wind. Knowing he didn't have much time, Minato ordered Gamabunta to attack and began to form handseals at a frenzied pace, though he was careful not to make any mistakes. The bundle that contained Naruto rested in Kushina's motherly embrace, protected by his mother's battle reflexes as debris and chunks of forestry flew through the air between Gamabunta's and Kyuubi's clash. Naruto was awoken by the sounds of battle around him, looking around with pure innocence and curiosity. His infantile eyes landed on the form of the Yondaime and he gurgled happily, his tiny arms stretching towards his father. Minato's concentration nearly shattered then and there, however he forced himself to focus and continued his handseals, tears flowing freely. Gamabunta was doing a good job of keeping the Kyuubi busy, as well as sparing anymore of his shinobi from sacrificing themselves to the Kyuubi. The fox however, was still too much for even the Toad Boss to handle, and lashed out with a clawed limb, catching Gamabunta across his left eye, spraying blood everywhere.

"_**Aaarggh! Hurry it up Minato, I can't stay in this realm much longer with this injury!" **_Gamabunta exclaimed, his left eye screwed shut as he retaliated with a horizontal slash.

"Don't worry Bunta, it's ready! **Fuuinjutsu: Shiki Fuin!**" Minato yelled, activating the technique.

With an intense flash of light, Minato felt the presence of one of the most powerful beings in reality enter his senses. He dared not look behind him in fear of what he might see, and instead focused his chakra and the chakra of his wife next to him, and directed it onto Naruto, who giggled as the warm feeling of his parents chakra washed over him. The Kyuubi roared in fright as it saw the Shinigami materialize and realized just what was about to happen unless it stopped the one responsible. Gamabunta was having none of that however, as he swiped at the Kyuubi with his tanto, scoring a direct hit and slicing the Kyuubi's right foreleg off, forcing the demon to back away while the limb regenerated at a frightening pace.

On Gamabunta's head, Minato wiped the tears from his face and gave Naruto a gentle kiss on the forehead and ruffled his thin blond locks. Minato smiled at his son's small little chuckle but that quickly turned to a frown when he felt his jutsu take hold. To him it felt like his very soul was being stabbed from behind but by the noise the fox was making, to it felt much, much worse for the Kyuubi. The beast's howling intensified as its charka began swirling around it with force strong enough to blow every ninja around it and many trees away like sand to a hurricane, many of which were blown onto Konoha, crushing buildings and wiping out entire streets as they moved across the terrain like steamrollers. Suddenly a bright white light surrounded Minato, Kushina, and spread to the entire of Konoha including the Nine-Tailed Fox. Then as quickly as it came, it vanished leaving no sign of the fox anywhere as silence settled over the village and surrounded forest. Suddenly cheers erupted from every remaining villager and ninja of Konoha, they didn't know how but the Fourth Hokage had defeated the fox and saved them all. They were, all of them, right in a way but soon they would find out how much it actually cost him. Some turned to look for the Fourth Hokage atop Gamabunta's head but all they found was a man lying on the ground in a clearing, screaming in pain and coughing up blood as he carefully clutched a small object wrapped in cloth that wailed just as loudly as he, while a red-haired woman lay on the ground next to them as still as a statue and unresponsive.

Minato slowly stopped coughing and the pain began to ebb away and a slow chill began to envelop his senses, his death was near. As he fell on his back he slowly cradled his son in his arms. By the sounds of it his son must have endured as much if not more pain then he did as he was now unconscious and unmoving. Minato noticed with a small amount of pleasure that the seal he designed had worked and the seal had appeared on his son's stomach, sealing the Kyuubi away forever. Ruffling his son's hair for the last time, he spoke with a raspy voice as he said his farewell.

"Goodbye my son… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry. I… I love you… my son…" And with his last words said, his eyes closed and his rocking stopped. Minato Namikaze, The Yellow Flash of Konoha, the Fourth Hokage… was dead.

Elsewhere three sets of eyes watched in sadness as the first of two names faded from their contracts, leaving only one remaining. Only time would tell if their services would be put to use, but for now they would have to wait. If ever this 'Namikaze Naruto' was to call upon them, he would command the furious vengeance of frost, fire and lightning…

* * *

**Short, but it's just the prologue. Thank you all for reading and let me know what you think. I'll be posting the first proper chapter soon and more will be explained, especially towards these mysterious 'Hidden Ninja'. A cookie to whoever can guess who was speaking in the mysterious conversation midchapter (no-brainer). **

**Translations:**

**Kuso = a common curse**

**Sochi = son**

**Fuuinjutsu: Shiki Fuin = Sealing Technique: Dead Reaper Seal.**


	2. Chapter 2: Oaths You Have Taken

**He Is My Master: Elemental Summoner Naruto!**

**Hello good people it's good to see you again. Thank you for all your encouraging reviews. As I have promised, this will be a substantially longer chapter that revolves around the Mizuki Incident as well as some of Naruto's childhood. Plus we will finally see who these mysterious people are that Minato has contracted, and what they have to do with young Naruto. On a final note, though I will be using the Japanese translation for all jutsu and the like, I don't know whether I'll use the surname before first name deal. Anyways it's chapter time!**

**Don't own Naruto.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Two: Oaths You Have Taken**

"This year's Ninjutsu portion will be an evaluation of the bushin jutsu," Iruka said, reading off a sheet of paper in his hand. "When I call your name, you'll come with me to a separate room where Mizuki and I will evaluate your technique."

Inwardly, he was cursing the Academy for its horrendously biased teaching system. If a student failed even a single portion of the entire exam, he or she would fail, regardless of how well they did in other parts (Inwardly Iruka thought about the exception, a genin called Rock Lee who had been sponsored by his jounin-sensei to pass with only his taijutsu, written and throwing portions). He knew his favourite student was still having difficulty with the bushin and if he failed for a third time he would be barred from taking the Genin Exams again, to prevent any wasting of resources trying to teach a hopeless case. Looking up, Iruka looked over his class, seeing the nervous, confident and stoic looks his students had. There was one however, who was close to tears of frustration, near the back, sitting on his own. Uzumaki Naruto, the container of the Kyuubi no Yoko. With no small amount of shame, Iruka knew he hadn't done his best in teaching Naruto, punishing him for insignificant things or sending him out the class during important lectures, during the first few years of his learning. However, as he watched him, Iruka saw more Naruto and less demon fox each day until he could no longer bring himself to hate the poor child. One day in particular showed him just how wrong he was in his impression of Naruto and why he now treated Naruto so nicely yet strictly.

_Flashback no jutsu…_

_Naruto cursed to Kami above. Why did he have such trouble with one of the easiest jutsu in the world? The Bushin Jutsu was an E-rank technique, surely he was good enough to pull it off if he could do the Kawarimi and Henge. Granted, he missed the classes that covered those jutsu but he was able to recreate them by puzzling out the handseals after reading his badly damaged study scroll that the Academy supplied. Half the handseals were missing but Naruto was proud of himself for figuring them out all by himself. So why couldn't he make a clone?_

"_Goddammit! BUSHIN JUTSU!" Naruto yelled, chakra flaring around his body like a bonfire as he pumped his energy into his handseal._

_There was a puff of smoke and Naruto looked up, half excited, half weary, only to see yet another pale and sickly clone lying half-dead on the ground, totally comatose and utterly useless. With a choked sob, Naruto cut off the technique and sat down heavily on the grass. He was in a clearing close to the Shinobi Academy, practicing long after the class had gone home. He'd watched with painful longing as children ran to their parents, embracing them while being led safely home, able to hold hands with their family. Feeling depressed, Naruto had decided to do the only thing he could think of to take his mind off of his woes… training. Naruto looked at his own hand, feeling tears well up in his eyes again. With a pained grimace, Naruto forced the tears back. He wouldn't cry anymore, he was done feeling sorry for himself. With a weary sigh that would normally be heard from an old man Naruto stood once more and formed the handseals for the Bushin again._

'_Naruto…'_

_Iruka looked away from the boy, feeling the same depression Naruto had. Iruka had recognized the look in Naruto's eyes. It was the same look he'd seen in his own eyes when he'd lost his parents to the Kyuubi attack. Orphaned and alone, he'd become a troublemaker to gain attention like Naruto was doing. Iruka shook himself of those thoughts and slowly left the clearing, leaving the curses and popping sounds behind. He began to revaluate his biased opinion of the clearly lonely child. Perhaps they were more similar than he first thought…_

_Flashback End…_

Sighing internally, Iruka called the first student and led them to the examination room. Back in the classroom, the other students began to chatter about the coming test and how they thought they'd do. The only ones not talking were Hyuuga Hinata, too shy to say anything to anyone while glancing worriedly at Naruto, Aburame Shino, who by nature was very quiet, Uchiha Sasuke, who was brooding silently to himself as always, and Naruto himself. Naruto was mentally putting a noose around his neck, knowing that if he screwed up this time he'd blow his last chance at ever becoming a shinobi.

'_Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! There's no way I can make it! My bushins are always overloaded and end up being too unstable to have a solid appearance or even movement!' _Naruto ranted inwardly in a panic. _'I don't have enough chakra control yet…'_

When asked about Naruto, most of the students in the room would scowl, frown or openly laugh. Most of them only knew that he liked orange far too much, was disrespectful and goofed around. However, those who paid attention to him would know he had a sharp intellect and creative mind, hidden from the masses by a shield of obliviousness and smiles. Some students were already looking at Naruto in disdain, his Bushin technique being well known throughout the year. However, behind Naruto sat one who was staring at Naruto, not with contempt, but with concern. Hyuuga Hinata, from the Hyuuga Clan, was as different from the rest of her family as one was probably able to get. While her clan was confident she was shy, while they were aggressive she hated confrontations, while they were strong she believed herself to be weak. Though timid, quiet and constantly nervous, Hinata found herself drawn to the blonde and orange enigma that was Uzumaki Naruto, drawing strength from his seemingly endless pool of confidence. As clever as Naruto really was though, he was oblivious to Hinata's feelings of respect and adoration, something she knew was her own fault, as she had never really tried to talk to Naruto or was interrupted before she had a chance to.

'_Naruto-kun… I believe in you…' _she thought, nervously poking her fingers together as she contemplated saying something.

"Hyuuga Hinata!" Iruka called from the door.

Naruto watched as Hinata jumped in surprise and slowly made her way to the door. As she passed him Naruto caught her eye and gave her an encouraging smile, not wanting one of the few people to treat him nicely being too nervous to pass. Hinata caught his look and blushed heavily, a small smile creeping onto her own face. Feeling bolstered by her secret crush's encouragement, Hinata strode confidently to the door and with Iruka out of the classroom. Naruto watched her go, though his mind was elsewhere.

'_I wonder if there's a way to get extra credit? I know I passed the throwing portion and the taijutsu portion but only barely. My written test went well, but it's still borderline failing. This is a make it or break it test and even if I pass I'll be deadlast, which would put me on a team with the Rookie of the Year… Uchiha Sasuke,' _Naruto ended his thought with a shudder.

Naruto looked up to Sasuke, seeing him as what Naruto himself wanted to be. He was strong, fast, smart and cool. People respected him… But Naruto couldn't help but dislike, even hate him, for how he acted. He was always cold, arrogant and snooty in Naruto's eyes. He was coveted by pretty much the entire female population of the class but he didn't even acknowledge their adoration, acting as if it was expected of them. Though he trained hard, he always expected to get the best results, as if it was his by right. He didn't even try to earn respect, he just let his family name do it for him, using the fame of the Uchiha Clan carry him around… though there wasn't much of a clan left. Besides Sasuke, the only known Uchiha was a nuke-nin, Uchiha Itachi. Itachi had gone rogue around five years ago and supposedly massacred Sasuke's entire family, leaving only Sasuke alive. Naruto had heard rumours from some of Sasuke's more attentive and chatty fangirls that Itachi was also Sasuke's older brother. Speaking of fangirls, Naruto found his gaze being drawn to one of the more prominent ones, Haruno Sakura. In the social tiers, Sakura wasn't that high up but she was acknowledged by a clan heir and so the other people in her age group acknowledged her. This clan heir was Yamanaka Ino, from the clan of mind walkers. Their familial jutsu allowed them to invade the mind of their enemies and force them to act how they wished. Some of the Yamanaka could even cause enemies to turn on each other and incite general chaos without having to leave their bodies. Back to Sakura though, Naruto was always trying to get her attention. Naruto didn't even like the girl all that much, she was rude, violent and inconsiderate, but if he was able to get her to acknowledge him, then maybe he had a chance at gaining the respect of others.

"Hey Sakura-chan, good luck with the test," Naruto called down.

Sakura shot him a look of disgust before replying.

"Keep that luck for yourself, baka. Kami knows you need it more than I do. In fact, you should just walk out now; we all know you're just a failure as a ninja. Run home and cry to mommy… oh wait, that's right. You don't have one."

Naruto maintained his composure as the class erupted into laughter, jeering and pointing at him. However, at that very moment, Naruto knew that he should stop trying to associate with Haruno Sakura. It was bad enough that she didn't appreciate his encouragement when he was just trying to be supportive, but to insult him like that was below the belt. Naruto felt a part of himself die inside as he thought about what Sakura had just said. It was true; he didn't have a mother… or even a father. He'd been alone as long as he could remember and he didn't even know who his parents were. Had they abandoned him? Were they dead? Did they even love him? Naruto didn't know but he wanted to… more than being a ninja, or even being the Hokage, he wanted to know he was loved. No one paid attention to him as Naruto put his head down onto his arms and silently began to cry.

_A few minutes later…_

Naruto's head snapped up as Iruka called his name. He stood up and slowly made his way down the classroom, trying to ignore the sniggers, the pointing and whispers as he did so. He left with Iruka and they went into the classroom right next to the one they were just in. Inside, Mizuki was sitting at a desk and the floor in the middle of the room was clear. Iruka went over to the desk and sat down next to Mizuki, trying not to let his worry show.

"All right Naruto, if you can make a clone, you pass. Whenever you're ready."

Naruto gave himself a calming breath and carefully made the handseals, trying to keep his chakra output to a minimum. As he finished the last handseal, Naruto felt his chakra spike again and his eyes opened wide. _'No! I had it that time, I know it!'_ He tried to cancel out his technique and ask for a minute but it was too late. There was a burst of smoke to his left and Naruto watched in horror as a lifeless, paper-white replica of himself slowly folded over and fell to the floor, comatose and utterly useless. Naruto hung his head… he had failed. He didn't even hear Iruka's words as he turned and left the classroom, walking down the corridor and out of the building itself. Naruto made his way across the Academy grounds to the tree on a small hill, where a single swing hung from one of the thicker branches. With a sad sigh, Naruto sat down, becoming unaware of the world around him as he swung back and forth in the wind.

It was around an hour later when Naruto looked up and saw the adults picking up their children, many of the one's from his class sporting their hitae-itae proudly. Parents congratulated and children celebrated as they made their way home. Naruto watched sadly, hearing snippets of conversation thanks to his higher than average hearing ability. However, the words he was hearing were words he himself had never had spoken to him.

"I'm proud of you son…"

"… Your mother's cooking up a big dinner for you tonight…"

"Let's go out and celebrate, my girl's a ninja!"

"Hey isn't that-"

"Yeah, I heard he was the only one who failed."

"Good thing too. Imagine if _he_ became a ninja. After he's the-"

"Quiet. We're not allowed to talk about that."

"Hmph, at least my little girl's safe from _him_."

"Naruto…"

Naruto looked around, the voice having come from behind him. Standing there was Mizuki, a sad smile on his face. Naruto turned back, though Mizuki saw he was paying attention.

"Don't be hard on Iruka, Naruto. He just wants you to succeed, to see you become a good ninja and so he's harder on you than the others."

"If that's true then why'd I fail? This was my last chance after all…" Naruto replied sullenly.

"Hm, you're right. Well then I guess I'll just have to tell you…"

This caught Naruto's interest.

"Tell me? Tell me what Mizuki-sensei?"

"Well, it's not talked about often but when a student shows the ability to become a Genin, but is unable to pass the standard exam, they can take a faux assignment from their Chuunin instructor to show they do have the aptitude for shinobi work," Mizuki replied, a small grin working it's way across his mouth. "And I believe you have the ability Naruto."

"You do? I-I don't know what to say Mizuki-sensei… What do I have to do?" Naruto replied, his spirits rising higher and higher. At last, he managed to catch a break!

"Well…"

* * *

"Iruka! Naruto's stolen the Forbidden Scroll!" Mizuki shouted as he opened Iruka's apartment door.

"WHAT? The Forbidden Scroll of Sealing!" Iruka cried, shock written across his face.

"Come on, the Hokage has ordered all present Chuunin and above to look for him!" Mizuki added before leaping away. _'And I'm the only one who knows where to find him…'_

_Elsewhere…_

"Let's see here, Kagebushin? More clones? Pass… Hmm?"

Naruto unfurled the Forbidden Scroll a little more and found something rather interesting. The next part of the scroll looked like some kind of seal array, with a small note underneath it.

_This is a Summoning Seal tied to a Blood Seal. To activate this, one must offer a blood sacrifice. Be warned that will also consume chakra and may be hazardous to those with low level reserves. –M.N._

Naruto immediately looked back at the array in awe. This would let him summon things? Instantly Naruto pictured himself facing off against the famous Sannin and nuke-nin Orochimaru, standing upon the biggest snake ever seen. He saw himself, wearing Hokage robes, form handsigns and summon a gigantic dragon that roasted Orochimaru and his snake in a huge breath of fire. Naruto continued this daydream for a few seconds before he remembered that he'd have to activate the Seal. Pulling a kunai from his pouch, Naruto prick his thumb before swiping it across the Sealing Array. Or at least he would have, if his thumb hadn't become stuck in place as soon as it touched the scroll.

"W-What the-?"

The scrawling seal came alive as soon as it came into contact with his blood, flowing across the page and onto his arm. Intricate designs that were completely alien to him snaked their way up towards his shoulder and came to rest along his bicep, three smaller circles with the kanji for Fire, Ice and Thunder forming an interwoven triangle of seals on his arm. Naruto was amazed, unsure of what had happened, and looked back at what he thought would be a blank portion of the Forbidden Scroll. However, words caught his eye and he realized that there had been a message hidden beneath the sealing array.

_Congratulations blood-relative of the Namikaze-clan, the Seal has accepted you. As you may have noticed, the seal has becoming a Summoning Tattoo on the arm you used to offer the blood. To use this effectively, you must swipe blood across the three main seals, and channel chakra to your hand. This will form a summoning circle on your palm, which you must then touch to a surface. This activates the summoning, and will bring forth allies for your fight. Do not think of your summons as tools. These will also be your friends… Naruto. –M.N._

Naruto was shocked at the last few words. Whoever this M.N. person was knew that Naruto was going to use the Seal, and said it would give him friends? Naruto nearly used the seal on his arm then and there but paused, looking back towards the beginning of the scroll. He had failed because of the Bushin jutsu, and this one was a more advanced cloning technique. Surely Iruka-sensei would pass him if he could master this one? Naruto decided to go ahead with it and looked carefully at the description. Since it was in the Forbidden Scroll, it was probably pretty powerful.

_The Kagebushin no jutsu is completely unique among the cloning techniques. This clone does not require a medium, such as water or earth for the Mizu and Tsuchi Bushin techniques, but rather it makes a solid clone of pure chakra, empowered with a small fragment of the user's soul. The clone itself will have all the cognitive and physical abilities of their creator, and will be able to communicate through thought alone. Also, being made with a piece of your soul, anything the clone experiences will be transferred back to the user upon being dispelled. This is extremely useful for scouting purposes, along with training at a few times faster than normal. However, most people can only double, or triple their training with this technique, due to the expensive chakra cost. However, please note that only chakra manipulations and experiences are transferred upon dispelling. This technique cannot be used to increase physical training._

_Warnings: This technique is extremely chakra heavy; even to make a single clone. Too many clones dispelling can also cause extreme mental stress as new information overwhelms the mind. Clones, being made of chakra, will only take a single hit before being dispelled. Clones left active for too long may begin to develop their own personality quirks. Side affects of using the Kagebushin no jutsu may include: vomiting, nausea, dry mouth, migraine, coma, death, soul destruction and profuse sweating. The Kagebushin no jutsu is not for everyone, please consult a direct superior before learning._

Naruto whistled softly at the sheer versatility of the jutsu, realizing that very few would be able to use it. If Naruto could master this jutsu, he'd have a great ace-in-the-hole if people thought they were just regular clones. After all, who would expect a Genin to be able to make solid clones? Naruto grinned inwardly and loudly cracked his knuckles before going over the handsigns. Surprisingly there was only one: a modified ram-seal that was shaped like a cross. Fully committing which hand to put in front of the other to memory, Naruto began to attempt making his first clone.

_18 minutes later…_

"Finally, I got it down perfectly…" Naruto gasped as he sat down against a tree, rolling up the forbidden scroll.

Naruto had discarded his jacket to get a better look at the new summoning seals on his arm. There were three circles, with rough lines that looked like flames, in black. These circles made a small triangle, with lines connecting them together and meeting each other in the middle of the triangle where a much smaller circle lay. According to the scroll, this seal activated all three summoning seals at the same time, but cost more chakra to activate. Naruto was snapped from his musings when he heard the snapping of tree branches, indicating someone was coming towards him. Naruto quickly stood and swung the Forbidden Scroll onto his back, forgetting about his jacket. Naruto had also, in a stroke of brilliance, copied several other cool looking jutsu from the scroll onto a small scroll that he stored in his weapons pouch, but he decided he would keep that little titbit a secret.

"Naruto! What the hell are you doing?" Iruka yelled as he jumped into the clearing.

"Hehe, looks like you found me Iruka-sensei! Hey, hey, so if I show you this jutsu I learned from the scroll I pass right? That's what Mizuki-sensei said, right?" Naruto clamoured, a ball of energy and excitement, despite exhausting himself only a few minutes ago.

"What? Why would Mizuki…" Iruka began.

Suddenly Iruka was thrown back by a barrage of kunai and shuriken that pinned him to the wooden cabin that resided at the edge of the clearing. Naruto looked at Iruka in shock and looked to where the weapons had come from. What he saw shocked him to the core.

"M-Mizuki-sensei?"

"Naruto, give me the scroll!" Mizuki replied, a strange smirk on his face.

"Don't do it Naruto! Mizuki lied to you to get the scroll for himself!" Iruka yelled from the side. "Take the scroll and run!"

"Even with the scroll you wouldn't be able to use it Naruto. I could show you how to unlock its full potential…" Mizuki retorted slyly. "Besides, that scroll holds the key to why everyone hates you. Don't you want to know why?"

"MIZUKI YOU CAN'T TELL HIM!" Iruka cried, horrified at what was happening. He began to struggle harder against the kunai buried in the wood.

"There was a rule made 13 years ago. A rule everyone knows about… but you," Mizuki claimed, a sick grin adorning his face.

"Rule? What rule? What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, truly confused. _'A rule that everyone but me knew that was related to why everyone hates me? What the fuck is he on about?'_

"DON'T TELL HIM!"

"You see? Even Iruka doesn't want you to know… to know that the night the Kyuubi attacked, the Yondaime didn't kill it. Oh no, no mortal could hope to kill a Bijuu outright. Instead he did the next best thing and sealed the beast. He sealed the beast inside you Naruto! You contain the beast that caused so much death and destruction 13 years ago! YOU ARE THE KYUUBI!" Mizuki was yelling by this point in his rant.

Naruto froze. He couldn't help it. Flashes of mobs glaring at him as he glared hatefully back filled his mind, whispers of crowds being recalled.

"_Monster…"_

"_Demon…"_

"_Get out of our village…"_

"_Beast…"_

"_Stay away from him…"_

"_Murderer…"_

"_Demon…"_

"_He's nothing but a troublemaker…"_

"_Killer!"_

"_Beast!"_

"_DEMON!"_

"**NO!"** Naruto yelled, falling to his knees.

"Die Naruto!" Mizuki exclaimed, unstrapping a Fuuma shuriken from his back and hurling it at the frozen blonde.

"Naruto run!" Iruka shouted.

Naruto just kneeled there, unmoving, unaware. His eyes were dull; the spark in his sapphire orbs was extinguished. Naruto barely registered the whirling star of death hurtling towards him. Naruto closed his eyes and waited, death rushing to him. Naruto heard the sound of rending flesh and the crush of breaking bones, but he felt no pain. Confused, Naruto opened his eyes, only to feel a drop of blood land on his cheek. Before him was Iruka, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Sticking out his back was the Fuuma Shuriken, imbedded next to his spine, cutting through a few ribs and just missing his left kidney.

"I-Iruka-sensei… why?" Naruto asked, his voice trembling.

"Because… we're the same," Iruka looked at Naruto, his eyes pouring tears of remorse. "You didn't have anyone there for you and it hurt. I know. It was like that for me, when I lost my parents. Everyone was always so busy… they didn't have time for me. So I acted the fool, got into trouble just to get attention. My grades slipped and I was barely passing… I'm sorry I didn't see sooner Naruto, forgive me."

"Enough of this drivel! Give me the scroll Naruto!" Mizuki ordered fiercely.

Naruto for his part felt something stir within him. Mizuki had betrayed him, just like others before. He'd used Naruto for his own gain, not caring if he got hurt because of it. Mizuki even tried to kill him, but Iruka… Iruka saved his life. Iruka believed in him. He had to protect him, no matter what. Naruto stood suddenly as Iruka collapsed on his side, his injuries overwhelming him. Mizuki looked on with interest as Naruto unbuckled the scroll from his back and set it next to Iruka before turning to him.

"Mizuki-teme… you tried to kill Iruka-sensei! I'll never forgive you!" Naruto shouted at him.

"Oooh, big words! Let's see if you can back them up Kyuubi!" Mizuki retorted, jumping into the clearing.

"If I'm the Kyuubi then I'll rip you apart!" Naruto challenged. "I'm the beast that killed the Yondaime!"

This retort actually made Mizuki pause, causing him to suddenly wonder whether or not he could actually succeed in killing Naruto. This was all the chance Naruto needed as he bit down on his thumb hard, before swiping the bloodied digit across the small circle in the middle of his Summoning Tattoo. Naruto felt his palm become warm as the Summoning Circle appeared on it, ready to receive his chakra. Channelling all his strength into his right hand, Naruto slammed it on the ground with a cry.

"_Kuchiyose no jutsu!"_

Mizuki watched in shock as a huge plume of smoke burst from Naruto's hand, engulfing him in smoke. There was silence for a few moments as Mizuki tried to see into the screen of smoke, hoping to see what Naruto had done, before suddenly a new voice was heard.

"Hmm? I've been summoned? Interesting… mother said it could be years yet."

"Oh? There's another clan that signed the contract with Namikaze-sama?"

"What's going on here? I was about to have my dinner, damn you!"

Naruto watched in shock as he was surrounded by three figures. As the smoke began to clear he saw that they were human, which was odd. He was hoping for some sort of kick-ass ninja familiar. He watched as he was able to see more of the three around him and realized that not only were they human, but they were girls! The one on his left was a head taller than him, with flowing blue hair that reached her waist. She had deep red eyes that were vaguely bird-like and a pale, but attractive face. She seemed to be in her mid-teens as she had a well-developed figure, her hips were wide and her breasts were around B-cupped. She wore a backless kunoichi-shirt that was strapped around her neck and lower back, showing the smooth pale skin of her spine, along with two strange marking on her shoulder blades. They looked like a mix between a spiral and a wing. She also wore standard black shinobi pants and plain black shinobi sandals, which were closed-toed. The second girl was shorter than the first but still taller than Naruto was. She had amber coloured eyes and flaming mid-length red hair, mixed with blonde. She was slender and athletic looking, having the perfect body for a kunoichi. She wore a red, short-sleeved shirt with a zipper, a pale cream miniskirt and black spandex shorts underneath. Her feet were clad in what appeared to be civilian running-shoes, but the soles were bright red and looked… odd. Naruto ignored her strange shoes and looked to the final girl. Again he had to look up to get a good look at her face… but he had to really crane his neck, this girl was _tall_! She was taller than Sarutobi Asuma, the son of Old Man Hokage and that guy was pretty big himself! She was also solidly built, her muscles toned and powerful but not bulky or bulging. Her hair was a bright blonde like Naruto's was but she also had extremely thick bangs that framed her face, which were black from their tips to halfway up, which cut off diagonally and turned back to blonde. Her eyes were a deep hazel, which put off any thoughts of her being a relative of his. Her face was also attractive, but she had a far-away look, as if she wasn't aware of what was happening around her. She wore a small forest green sports-top that covered _huge_ breasts, and a black cloak around her shoulders, that had two horizontal yellow stripes across it. Her cloak barely reached her ankles, and her feet were covered by heavy combat boots. She was also wearing navy blue combat pants, with many pockets that hung loosely around her waist, held up by a thick black belt with a heavy iron buckle. All in all, Naruto was deeply impressed by the looks of these three, but also very nervous.

The three girls looked around, taking in the situation. They were very close to a small boy, around thirteen, looking at them in awe. There was a heavily injured man a small distance away, unconscious by the looks of it. Finally, near the tree line of the clearing they were in, there was another man. This man however, was radiating a weak killing intent towards the boy, meaning this man was most likely a threat. The girl with the blue hair looked more closely at the boy and noticed three things. He had blonde, spiky hair. He had three whisker-like marks on each cheek, a clear sign of being a Jinchuuriki. Finally, he had the Seal of Summoning mark on his right arm. Naruto was surprised at the summoning, but even more so when the blue-haired girl went down on one knee and bowed her head towards him, an action that was repeated by the other two.

"Namikaze-sama, it is an honour to finally meet you and to be summoned. What are your orders?" the blue-haired one spoke, her voice a light but cold alto.

"N-Namikaze? Orders?" Naruto stammered. "What do you mean?"

"You are the child of Namikaze Minato, yes? The legacy of the Fourth Hokage our Clans were sworn to protect. We are contracted through the Summoning Seal to be your guards and companions so long as you live. As such, we are yours to command," the girl spoke, her voice filled with respect and also with a touch of awe. "My name is Tsurara Tenshi."

The blonde haired one spoke next, her voice a warm, sultry thing that sent shivers up Naruto's spine.

"My name is Ikazuchi Ken. But you can call me Ken-chan."

The final girl spoke, her voice filled with impatience, but no less respect, though her's was rough but still very feminine.

"I'm Sumiyaka Hinote, now what do you want?"

Naruto was deeply confused. He was related to the Yondaime? Wouldn't the Old Man Hokage have told him? Where was his mother? Why did the Yondaime seal the Kyuubi in him in the first place? Didn't people know he was the son of a hokage? While Naruto struggled with his thoughts, Mizuki was growing impatient. While he was nervous before about Naruto knowing the summoning jutsu, he was unimpressed with these three girls. Only the blonde one looked at all dangerous. The redhead looked weak and the blue-haired one looked more like a slut than anything else.

"You can pull any trick you like demon-boy! I'll kill you and take the scroll anyway!" He exclaimed as he pulled a second Fuuma shuriken from his back.

"What's this? You dare threaten our charge? I'll make sure you live to regret your decision," Tenshi retorted, her red eyes flashing with anger.

"Why do you get to fight him? I want some action! Plus I'm hungry, I make sure it's over really _fast_," Hinote argued grumpily.

"I said it first, he's mine. We can work out how we work together later," Tenshi retorted, silencing any argument Hinote may have had.

Ken just stood back with a small smile, a distant look in her eyes. Naruto watched in amazement as Tenshi began to walk towards Mizuki confidently, the air around her growing colder. Mizuki just smirked and hurled his shuriken at her, causing Naruto to gasp in shock. Tenshi simply smirked before crossing her arms, her hands on her hips. With a sharp _'Ha!'_, she swept her arms forward and Naruto was once more stunned. The markings on Tenshi's back had vanished, and in their place were two huge pale blue wings. With a mighty flap, her wings easily blew the shuriken back, causing the weapon to fall to the grassy earth harmlessly.

"What is this?" Mizuki yelled in shock. "Are you an angel!"

"I am a member of the Tsurara Clan. We are descendants of the Valkyries, the judges of the dead. The members of our clan are always female, and our wings are our kekkei genkai," Tenshi explained. "Can you feel the cold touch of death upon your heart? The icy winds of the Valkyrie will swallow your soul."

By now, Mizuki was utterly terrified. This girl had a kekkei genkai and if what she said was true, she had advanced powers. Trying not to let his fear get the best of him, Mizuki pulled more kunai and shuriken from his pouch, before throwing the all at once. Tenshi gave a soft snort, before she flapped her wings once more, blowing the steel away from her. However, Mizuki had planned this and rushed in as her wings separated, a fist raised to strike her in the face. Tenshi gave off no indication she was surprised, in fact she looked like she was expecting this. Raising her hand, palm open, she left Mizuki run into it and uttered a single word.

"_Gyou(1)…"_

Mizuki let out a strangled scream as he suddenly stopped moving, frost covering his body and clothes. The shock of the sudden cold nearly made him lose consciousness if not for the pain. Tenshi gave him a small smile and raised a hand to the sky. However, before she was able to do anything further, a voice rang out.

"Ten-chan?"

Tenshi turned and saw Naruto just behind her.

"Umm… can I finish him off? I want to get back at him for what he did to Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes flashing with anger as he glared at the shivering, but still standing Mizuki.

"Very well Namikaze-sama, however please be careful. A ninja must never lower his guard, even against a seemingly defeated enemy," Tenshi replied, her voice quiet yet firm.

"Please… call me Naruto, Ten-chan," he answered, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

Tenshi simply smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair, before she walked over to stand with the other two and watched. Naruto smiled himself before he turned his gaze to the frightened Mizuki and cracked his knuckles loudly, much to Hinote's enjoyment.

"Alright you lowlife bastard. I'm gonna pay you back for the pain you caused Iruka-sensei a thousand-fold! You wanted me to learn a jutsu from the scroll, well here it is! _**Kagebushin no jutsu!**_" Naruto yelled, crossing his hands.

With a great cascading sound of popping and plumes of smoke, the clearing was suddenly full of copies of Naruto. Mizuki stumbled back in shock as each clone taunted him, completely surrounded and heavily outnumbered. He barely had time to open his mouth to scream before he was swarmed by black, orange and blonde ninjas. After a severe beating, Mizuki lay on the ground before Naruto as a twitching pile of bruises and blood. Naruto gave him one last swift kick before he dispelled his clones, not noticing any headaches as the clones hadn't experienced anything that much different than he had. He grinned and turned to the other four, noticing that Iruka was awake and staring at Naruto in awe. Tenshi, Hinote and Ken were also looking at him, impressed. Naruto felt something, a curious sensation in the pit of his stomach that fluttered about, giving him a warm feeling all over. He had new friends that would always look out for him, he had saved his teacher and defeated the one who hurt him with a lot of help and he finally had recognition… he was content.

"Naruto… come over here, I have something for you," Iruka said, trying not to wince as his wound sent another sharp pain through his nerves.

Naruto obliged and crouched in front of Iruka, looking concerned.

"Don't worry, I'm not that badly hurt," Iruka said, trying to comfort Naruto while ignoring the quiet 'Bullshit!' from Hinote. "Anyways, I want you to close your eyes."

Naruto did and waited. As he waited, he felt something go around his forehead and tighten at the back of his head. He waited until Iruka told him he could open his eyes before he did so and tried to see what it was. He almost instantly noticed that Iruka was no longer wearing his leaf headband and put two and two together, before dividing by zero. Immediately his mind went blank as Iruka and the three kunoichi cheered for him.

"Congratulations Naruto! You graduate!"

Needless to say there was much rejoicing.

"Can we go get something to eat now? I'm starving!"

It had been a few days since the Graduation Exam and the Mizuki Incident. Naruto had had a lot of questions for the Sandaime and demanded answers. He learned about how he was the son of the Yondaime, who sacrificed himself to save the village from the rampage of the Kyuubi, sealing it in Naruto. He learned that the Yondaime wanted him to be seen as a hero by the village, but that wish had been ignored in the face of fear of the beast that had nearly ended the people of Konoha. Naruto learned that the Yondaime, who had also created the contract that gave him his newest friends, was Namikaze Minato; a fuuinjutsu master of extraordinary calibre and that made Naruto the last member of the Namikaze clan. Seeing that Naruto knew of his heritage, Sarutobi gave him the option of letting his true heritage be known throughout the village. Naruto had thought about it for only a moment, before saying that while he would be keeping his new name, he wanted to earn the respect of the village, not be given it simply because of his name. This had made Sarutobi truly proud of him, and he promised to set Naruto up with a good teacher for when he was assigned a Genin team. As for the three kunoichi, Sarutobi had offered them residence in the village, in Naruto's apartment complex. Naruto's floor was empty, sadly because no one wanted to live near him. The three graciously accepted and requested to be made official liaisons between the Ikazuchi, Tsurara, and Sumiyaka Clans and Konohagakure. Sarutobi Hiruzen had pretty much no choice, seeing as he had no choice but to let them stay in the village. He also decided to make them a three-man, or in this case woman, team at Special Genin-rank with no sensei and that answered only to the Hokage. Currently Naruto was enjoying something he'd never had imagined he would experience… being tucked into bed.

"Goodnight Naruto-kun. We'll see you in the morning," Ken said warmly, kissing Naruto on the forehead, while pulling his blanket over him.

Naruto blushed and tried to fight back tears of joy. Reaching out to Ken-chan, he pulled her into a hug and let her comforting embrace reassure him that this was truly real. Ken herself was finding it hard not to cry that Naruto was having such an emotional reaction to something so simple and natural. After almost a minute they separated, both smiling brightly. Ken reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair playfully before standing up, looking distant but happy once again.

"Goodnight… Ken-chan," Naruto said quietly.

He caught himself before he said something else, not wanting to possibly offend one of his newest friends and… subordinates. He still had trouble accepting the fact that the three of them answered to him first and the Hokage second. If the Hokage told them to do something that Naruto didn't like, he would be able to countermand their order and the ability to control three strong ninja frightened him. Putting those thoughts out of his head, Naruto watched as Ken gave him another sweet smile before quietly leaving his room, turning the light off as she went. Naruto lay on his side, his eyes closed, and relaxed. Things were looking up. He was on his way to becoming the Hokage, and he would be assigned his team in two weeks. He had three new companions to get to know during that time and he was beginning to know what it was like to have something he'd always wanted… a family.

'_Is this what's it's like… to have a kaa-san?'_

_

* * *

_

**And that's the end of that chapter. It's shorter than what I'm used to but I'm still getting into the flow of writing in the Naruto-style. Hopefully I'll be able to expand the length and quality of the chapters as I go on, and hopefully you'll enjoy them more as well. Please read and review with any comments or constructive criticisms and I hope you liked it.**

**(1) "Freeze…"**


	3. Chapter 3: Team Day Foreplay

**He Is My Master: Elemental Summoner Naruto!**

**Thank you everyone for your kind reviews. Hopefully the story will begin to pick up with the introduction of Naruto's guardians, which gives rise to the title of this fanfic. Anyways, here we go! :3**

***I don't own Naruto, if I did Naruto would know Hiraishin Level 3 by now***

**Speaking of the Hiraishin having levels, wtf is Kishimoto on about? I have a vague idea that I might try to work into the fic.**

**Hiraishin Level 1: A sealed kunai in a surface that gives a medium for Minato to teleport onto instantly, retaining the position he was in before teleportation, with a maximum range around the kunai of about a metre.**

**Hiraishin Level 2: A moving kunai not attached to any surface, allowing Minato to teleport to it at any location around it, while being in motion himself or in any position of his choosing. Maximum range is shorter than Level 1, but wider range around the kunai, maybe up to 3 metres.**

**Hiraishin level 3(?): Multiple kunai used, or perhaps something more? Maybe Minato can imprint his chakra on something then teleport to it without a kunai? Maximum range is extremely long, and radius around mark maybe about 2 metres. Chakra cost at least tripled.**

**Anyways, let's see where this goes!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Team Day Foreplay**

"What are you doing here Naruto? This meeting is for people that graduated," commented a bored Shikamaru.

"Check the neck Shikamaru, I did pass. Plus I decided to get a new look, since I'm moving up the path to Hokage!" Naruto retorted proudly, indeed sporting a new outfit.

"Troublesome…"

It was then that Shikamaru noticed that it was not just Naruto that entered the classroom. He was followed in by three of the most beautiful girls the perpetually lazy Nara had ever laid eyes on. However, as beautiful as they were, it would be too troublesome to get caught staring, so Shikamaru laid his head on his arms and went to sleep on the desk, much to Naruto's amusement. Remembering his comment about his outfit, Naruto couldn't help but thank Kami for sending him these wonderful friends. When they had gotten a good look at his orange jumpsuit, Hinote had started screaming and clawing at her eyes, before she used a seal-less katon jutsu to set his clothes on fire… while he was wearing them. Tenshi had been greatly amused as Naruto ran around, rolling on the floor and shrieking at the top of his voice before she put the fire out with a simple suiton jutsu. Naruto had been forced to burn his entire wardrobe before the girls were satisfied. However, to make up for it they'd escorted him to a shinobi store to help him buy his new get-up. They'd had problems with the clerk but Ken-chan had convinced him to sell to them nonetheless.

_Flashback jutsu!_

_Ken walked into the Supplied Shinobi, followed by Tenshi, Hinote and Naruto, who was stuck wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of green shorts. Ken wasted no time in looking around the clothes section, while Hinote browsed the weapons. Naruto looked around nervously, hoping they'd be able to buy their things and leave without incident. His hopes were shattered however, as Tenshi led him straight to the counter, where the clerk was busy watching Ken intently, his eyes roving her body while his mouth hung open. 'Damn that woman is hot… maybe if I give her a discount I could get lucky later on…' he thought._

_Tenshi cleared her throat loudly, frowning at the clerk's obvious thoughts._

"_My apologies. Welcome to the Supplied Shinobi, we have all the necessary supplies any decent ninja could want, from kunai and shuriken, to stealthy clothing and explosive notes. What would you li-…" the clerk trailed off when he spotted Naruto trying to hide behind the blue haired woman._

"_You little shit! Get the fuck out my store you demon scum before you scare away my customers!" he yelled out in impotent fury._

_Ken looked up at the noise and turned to the clerk, wondering what got him so angry. When she saw him actually swing at Naruto with his hand, she immediately went into guardian mode. The clerk didn't even see her unsheathe the ninjato she was inspecting as his fist hit the flat side of the blade, a cracking sound echoing from his hand. The clerk yelped in pain as he turned to Ken, wondering why she'd done that, cradling the injured appendage._

"_What was that for? I'm just trying to get rid of this _trash_," he said furiously, biting back a whimper as he cradled his hand._

"_You will not raise your hand to Naruto-sama. If you try again in my presence, or the presence of my associates, _we_ will end you…" Ken replied calmly, no trace of emotion in her voice._

"_I-It's alright Ken-chan… let's just leave," Naruto said quietly from behind her._

_Ken looked at Naruto carefully, seeing his downtrodden expression._

"_Naruto-kun… does this happen a lot?" she asked, her voice becoming soft and warm._

_Naruto forced back tears that someone was sticking up for him. Unable to form words he simply nodded. Ken turned back to the clerk, who began to cower from her slightly as her hazel eyes hardened._

"_You will sell us what we need, and will continue to sell to Naruto-sama at a normal price, or we will have a problem. You do not want us to have a problem. Do we have an understanding?" Ken said to the trembling man quietly._

_The clerk winced at her tone of voice before he began to regain some courage, thinking that these women wouldn't do anything to him regardless. _

"_No! I demand that you leave my store at once, all of you! I will not be inti-…"_

_Once again the man trailed off as Ken took the hilt and tip of the ninjato in either hand and slowly bent the folded steel weapon until it closely resembled a U, a sharp screeching sound coming from the metal in protest. The clerk simply gaped, his mouth moving but making no noise before he whimpered and nodded his head to Tenshi. Immediately the young teen placed various bags onto the counter, courtesy of Hinote who had picked out the supplies they needed while Ken intimidated the dickhead at the counter._

"_T-That'll be… 175000 ryo… for the five sets of clothes… 50 s-shuriken, 25 kunai, 10 metres of ninja wire… a pack of explosive tags… and a standard ninjato," the clerk mumbled._

_Naruto nodded, taking out a fat frog wallet that made Tenshi smile, before counting out a large number bills from inside. Tenshi noticed that most of the money inside was folded bills, meaning Naruto had a significant amount of money. Was he treated so badly because of the Kyuubi that he wasn't able to spend his allowance on anything? Moving those thoughts aside, Tenshi gave a cold smile to the clerk before she gathered up Naruto's bags and let him lead the way out the store. As Tenshi and Hinote followed him out, Ken hung back._

"_You have been warned. In fact, warn all your other business friends. The days of refusing Naruto-sama service are over; we wouldn't want you to have an accident due to bad _karma_ now would we?" she whispered dangerously._

_The clerk simply nodded, too scared to do anything else. Ken gave a light scoff before leaving some more notes on the counter, claiming they were for the broken weapon, before she left the store as well, feeling much better about Naruto's immediate future. As she stepped onto the street she was struck by a blonde blur around the middle. Ken looked down at Naruto, only to feel her heart break slightly at the tears flowing down his face._

"_T-Thank you K-Ken-chan… thank you…"_

"_Anytime Naruto-kun… anytime…"_

_End Flashback!_

Naruto was now wearing black combat pants similar to the ones Ken wore, as well as a grey sleeveless top, with pockets at the sides and on the chest. Over this he wore a white sleeveless cloak like what the Yondaime wore, minus the words and the flames. This allowed him to show off his summoning tattoo, as well as getting easy access to it. He was warned by all three girls though to use it if they weren't with him, only as a last resort, as they were summoned immediately, and might not be adequately prepared for combat. When he asked what they meant, Hinote told him that if he summoned her while she was in the shower, she'd set him on fire again.

Naruto shuddered at that thought. He'd had enough immolation to last a month and did not look forward to any repeat performances. Fortunately an opportunity arose to distract the girls from tortu- caring for him, in the form of one Haruno Sakura. After explaining his life in the Ninja Academy, and how he didn't pay attention and skipped class because he was barely taught anything, the girls asked Naruto how much he knew and how he got on with his classmates. Naruto surprised them by showing that he just as much as Sakura did when it came to being a ninja, thanks to his tendency to just walk into Sarutobi's office in a huff and grab a random book to read. He also informed them about Sakura and how he absolutely detested her. He may have tried to go out with her to show that he was worth something, but in truth he nearly hated the girl. She didn't take being a kunoichi seriously in anyway, she ended a true friendship over a boy, she pined after said boy like a dog despite being rejected time and again, and she screeched like a banshee.

"Heya Sakura-chan! I'd like you to m-," Naruto began.

He was forced to stop as Sakura's fist pushed its way into his face, sending him to the floor with a bleeding nose. She stood over him imperiously as she crossed her arms and began screeching just like Naruto said she did.

"Naruto-baka! Don't call me that! Why the hell are you here anyway? This class is only for graduates you loser!" she screamed down at him.

Sakura suddenly found a pair of crimson eyes in her face, causing her to stumble back in surprise. Tenshi just scoffed at her reaction before laughing openly at her, issuing a silent challenge for her to do something stupid. Sakura being… well, Sakura… decided to respond by trying to punch the girl out for scaring her like that. Tenshi simply leant to the side of the blow before she tapped the back of her hand against Sakura's overextended arm, causing frost to form and spread up her arm in the space of a second. Sakura gave a yelp of shock and pain as the cold shot up her arm and across her body, causing her arm to go numb.

"What did you do to me you bitch!" she screeched.

Tenshi scowled. "The only bitch here would be you, you ignorant banshee. As for why I did that, you shouldn't pick on my friends unless you want to anger me…"

"I haven't picked on any of your friends…" Sakura seethed as Naruto got up off the floor, his bloodied nose already healing. Fortunately Sakura remained ignorant of this. Suddenly she realised what Tenshi meant. "Oh my god, you're friends with _Naruto_? He's a clueless loser, an orphan, a dropout! He's no where near as good as Sasuke-kun!"

"Who's this _Sasuke-kun_ you speak of? If you like him so much, maybe I'll rearrange _his_ face and see how you like it!" Hinote growled, getting into Sakura's face.

Sakura scoffed at this, which surprised the three guardian kunoichi.

"Sasuke's the best! The rookie of the year AND he's from the Uchiha Clan! There's no way some hussy like you could ever match up to how great Sasuke-kun is!" she retorted angrily.

"Alright slut I warned y-," Tenshi ground out.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Iruka shouted, using his infamous Demon Head Jutsu.

The three guardians looked at Iruka with something closely resembling awe at his technique. Ignoring Sakura, Hinote helped Naruto into a seat up near the back and far away from her. Naruto ground out a _'Thanks' _and sat down with a sullen look on his face. Clearly he had been hoping the meeting would go better. Tenshi and Ken had taken the only two free seats they could see, two rows ahead on either side of a pale boy with black hair that… looked like a duck's ass? Hinote tried, she really did… but she burst into hysterical laughter just as Iruka started going through the register. The Chuunin looked up, annoyed that he was being interrupted. However, when he saw who it was, he immediately frowned. _'This girl? She's one of the girls Naruto met during the Scroll Incident. How is she here? Did Hokage-sama send them?'_ he thought, slowly starting to get more concerned.

"Oh that's right!"

Iruka was snapped out of his thoughts as Naruto approached him from the back of the room, before handing him a small scroll. Iruka gave Naruto a curious look before opening the scroll and reading it. The further down he read, the paler he became. When he finished, his skin was the colour of sour milk and he looked at Naruto in shock. Naruto just grinned widely before heading back to his seat, his face much cleaner thanks to Hinote's attention. As he sat down, Iruka realized he would have to explain the presence of the three kunoichi.

"Alright class, as some of you may be aware that we have some new students in the graduating class. Would you three girls please stand and give your names, likes, dislikes and why you became a ninja?" Iruka said, listening carefully as the three stood at his request.

"Hello everyone, my name is Tsurara Tenshi. I like winter, ice sculpting, ice cream and Naruto-kun. I dislike pointless conversation, ignorance, illogical people and fire. I am a ninja because I come from a Hidden-nin clan," Tenshi said tonelessly. Ken took over as Tenshi sat down again.

"I'm Ikazuchi Ken… I like thunder and lightning… rain… cute things… Naruto-kun and training. I dislike the pink-haired one… seafood… bigoted people… and people being disrespectful. I became a ninja for the same reason as Ten-chan."

Finally Hinote was able to introduce herself as Ken sat down and started day-dreaming.

"Sumiyaka Hinote. I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you all, but I'd be lying through my teeth. I like explosions, fire, running, Naruto, and the other two you just met. I dislike the whole fucking lot of you until you give me a reason not to. I'm a ninja because I have the most talent in my clan."

"Wait, why do these losers get to graduate without taking the exam? We had to work hard to get this far and they get a free pass in?" Sakura shrieked loudly.

"As you may or may not be aware Sakura, these girls are not from Konoha but are already registered kunoichi from their respective countries. They are here… as representatives of their clans and answer directly to Hokage-sama. If you have a problem with that, then tough luck," Iruka replied wearily.

All the other students were looking at the three girls with a mixed level of lust and jealous hatred save for three. One was sleeping (guess who?), one was blushing and prodding her fingers together nervously and the last was staring broodingly at the front of the class. Iruka coughed loudly to get everyone's attention before smiling a little at the three new girls' introductions. Each one of them had proclaimed themselves to be a friend of Naruto, which immediately ostracised them from most of the class. Iruka didn't know if they were courageous or ignorant of Naruto's stigma but he was happy regardless.

"Alright class, I'll now be listing the new teams that you'll be in during your time as a Genin. These assignments come from the Hokage himself so if you don't like it, don't bother me about it. Now then, Team 1…"

Naruto tuned Iruka out as he looked around the class. He pitied Tenshi and Ken for having to sit on either side of the Uchiha, as he could see that they wanted to talk to each other but weren't able to over the human ice-cube. Suddenly remembering that Hinote had started laughing, Naruto turned to her.

"Hey Hino-chan… why did you start laughing?" he asked bluntly.

"Oh that? Hehe, well that guy between Ten-chan and Ken-chan? Doesn't his hair look like a duck's butt?" Hinote replied, trying to suppress more giggles but failing miserably.

Naruto turned and looked back at Sasuke, only to see the rear end of a duck superimposed on his head, thanks to his imagination. In Naruto's mind he saw Sasuke walking along when all of a sudden his hair twitched. Sasuke looked up only to see a bird's head uncurl from under his 'hair', before his bangs lifted as the bird's wings and it took off from his head, leaving him bald. Naruto couldn't help it… he too just had to laugh, it was so funny! On his other side, Hyuuga Hinata was trembling. The three new girls… they were so beautiful and all three of them said they liked Naruto-kun. Was she too late? Did she not try hard enou-? She had to stop that thought before it could finish. She hadn't really tried to speak to him at all, content to watch him when he was unaware of her. But here he was sitting next to her, in good spirits. She had to try before Naruto slipped away from her again.

"N-Naruto-kun…"

"Hmm? Oh, you're Hinata right? From the Hyuuga clan?" Naruto replied, looking at her with light interest.

"H-hai… I w-was wondering… i-if you… i-i-if y-you…"

"God dammit girl! Just ask him out already!" Hinote exclaimed suddenly, startling Hinata into silence.

Hinata immediately flushed bright red and Naruto's eyes widened imperceptibly.

"W-What? Hinote-chan, what do you mean?" He nearly shouted, but ended up as a loud whisper.

"Oh come on Naru-kun, clearly she likes you, she's just too freaking shy. Look, she's so red her head's gonna explode!" Hinote replied.

Naruto frowned slightly at Hinote's crude language. Did her entire family speak like that, or just her? Naruto mentally shrugged the thought off. Either way, she wouldn't be Hinote-chan if she didn't consistently swear and be generally impatient. Naruto smirked before thinking on what Hinote had just revealed to him. Hyuuga Hinata _liked_ him? Why? _When?_ Suddenly Naruto saw Hinata, not sitting next to him, but during Taijutsu practice. Whenever he would lose in a spar she always looked so… concerned? Sad? Naruto knew that Hinote had to be telling the truth but what should he do? He never really noticed Hinata before. She was extremely introverted and timid, but still talented. He looked at Hinata, who looked ready to cry at her crush being revealed so bluntly and being made fun of. Naruto sighed lightly, this day just kept getting better and better.

"Hinata… can I call you Hinata-chan? Anyways, is this true? You actually like me?" Naruto asked tentatively.

Hinata could do nothing but blush as her crush called her Hinata-chan. She trembled but nodded slightly before she screwed her eyes shut. Naruto was saddened that Hinata couldn't meet his eyes, being too shy. Though he didn't really like Sakura, he did like that she was confident, which Hinata clearly wasn't.

"Hinata-chan… I'm flattered, I really am… but I don't know you that well. Maybe I can like you as much as you like me, given time," Naruto started, _'And a whole lot of patience. She's shaking like a leaf in a hurricane.' _"But for now, we should try and get to know each other. I mean, even if you like me you can't know that much about me. So let's start off as friends, neh?"

Hinata flinched at what she initially thought was a rejection. However, as Naruto finished, she realized that he wasn't rejecting her. He just needed to get to know her! Hinata felt as if all her prayers were just answered. Her crush acknowledged her and actually wanted to get to know her! Sure they'd be friends for the moment, but Hinata suddenly felt a fire ignite within her. She had a chance now and she couldn't let her shyness waste it. If Naruto wanted a reason to go out with her, she'd give him one.

"H-Hai, Naruto-kun. I'd like to be your f-friend very much," she replied, her stutter dying down quite noticeably.

"Team 7 will consist of Uzumaki Naruto," Iruka suddenly called out, causing Naruto to perk up.

"Haruno Sakura."

"WHAT?"

"FUCK!"

Iruka nearly jumped, startled by the twin cries from Sakura AND Naruto. Didn't Naruto have a crush on Sakura? Why didn't he want to be on her team? Either way he decided to continue.

"And Uchiha Sasuke. Your Jounin sensei is Hatake Kakashi."

"YES! TAKE THAT INO-PIG!" Sakura squealed in delight.

"Kami… WHHHYYYYYYY!" Naruto cried, hitting his head on his desk.

Iruka coughed at that but continued on nonetheless.

"Ahem… Team 8 will consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata, your sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai. Team 9 is still in circulation from last year's graduating class. So Team 10 will be Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. Your sensei is Sarutobi Asuma. Finally is Team… Namikaze?" Iruka looked at the assignment sheet handed to him by the Hokage. "This team consists of Tsurara Tenshi, Ikazuchi Ken and Sumiyaka Hinote… but no Jounin-sensei."

"Ha! I knew they were losers for hanging around Naruto-baka, but to not get a sensei? The Hokage must think they're completely hopeless! Hahaha-," Sakura would have continued laughing, had a ninjato not been pressed against her throat.

Hinote was _pissed_. This little slut, thinking she was a ninja, dared mock the fact that they served Naruto-sama and Minato-sama? Of course they wouldn't have a sensei, they were from Hidden Clans! The secrets of their families could be revealed if they trained under a ninja serving a Hidden Village. That was not to say they couldn't serve Naruto-sama, they just wouldn't share any Clan techniques with him… not yet anyway. Hinote gave Sakura a heated glare, causing the girl to flinch.

"Listen here _little girl_. The Hokage set these teams and so he must have a reason for not assigning us a sensei. Perhaps we are to directly serve him? Maybe we aren't actually Genin, did you think of that? Did you!" Hinote spat in her face.

"N-no," Sakura replied, trying to move her throat as little as possible due to the blade pressed against it.

"No. You didn't. Yet you felt fit to assume. In doing so you insulted the wisdom of the Hokage, and we'll be making sure he knows that one Haruno Sakura doesn't have a high opinion of him," Hinote replied, calmer than before. "I hope you enjoy your career as a damsel in distress, waiting for your fucking _Sasuke-kun_ to save your worthless hide. I know for a fact it'll be a short one."

With that said, Hinote sneered at her before lowering her weapon. Sakura took the chance to try and hit the girl, but fell into the row in front of her as Hinote disappeared. Sakura landed on a random student, who shouted out and pushed her off him to the floor, landing awkwardly between the desks. Tears in her eyes, Sakura stood up and faced Iruka.

"Sensei! Aren't you going to punish that witch for threatening me?" she hollered.

"Sakura! Although she was rather harsh she was still technically correct. You did insult her and Hokage-sama's judgement and so she was within her rights to stop you from making a fool of yourself further. I expected better from you as one of the top kunoichi in the class," Iruka retorted. "This matter is over, now I have to report to the Hokage about these assignments while you wait for your Jounin senseis. They should be arriving any moment now."

As he said this there was a knock at the classroom door. It was opened from the other side to reveal a man and a woman. The man was bearded, smoking, and wore a sash of the Fire Daimyo, indicating that this was Sarutobi Asuma. The woman was absolutely gorgeous, causing several of the males in the room to blush and start having impure thoughts. Her dark brown hair and red eyes, as well as they strange dress she wore indicated that she was Yuuhi Kurenai, as well as the fact that Hinata already knew her.

"Teams 8 and 10 with us please," Kurenai stated.

Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji all stood and left the room with their senseis. As Naruto and co. waited they watched as the room slowly emptied as more and more jounin came to retrieve their students. Naruto was slightly upset that he couldn't talk to Hinata more, seeing as she was one of the first to go, but he got over it quickly when Team Namikaze sat around him to chat. Naruto smirked at that. _Team Namikaze_. Of course their team would be named after his father. The Yondaime had single-handedly either saved these clans or honoured them in some way and so each clan had offered their allegiance to him and him alone. If Minato had decided to leave Konoha for whatever reason, the three clans wouldn't have batted an eye and continued to be his friend.

"So, Naruto-kun. How do you feel about being on a team under Kakashi-san? He _was_ the student of the Yondaime so he might know some _useful_ things," Tenshi asked, her tone giving nothing away to Sasuke or Sakura, who were listening closely.

"I'm sure he'll be a great sensei. After all he knows over a thousand jutsu and he's one of the strongest jounin in the village from what I've heard," Naruto replied eagerly. "It's just a shame we're gonna be here for at least another two hours…"

"TWO HOURS!" Sakura screeched, causing Naruto to wince slightly. "What are you talking about Naruto-baka!"

"I think I've gone deaf… my ears are ringing…" Naruto mumbled.

Sakura foolishly tried to punch Naruto yet again, only to have her fist intercepted by Ken's palm. Sakura's eyes widened as Ken closed her hand around her fist and painfully began to squeeze.

"Silly girl. You just don't get it. Neither I nor my friends will allow you to bully Naruto-kun anymore. If you keep this up, we'll be sure to register a complaint to Hokage-sama that you are being counter-productive to the teamwork of being shinobi of the leaf and for assault of a fellow ninja. You'll be dropped from the program and have to watch as your precious Sasuke leaves you behind," she said calmly, not moving even as Sakura tried to tug her hand free.

"Shut up! What do you know anyway? You're just a loser from some useless clan nobody's heard of! Wait till I tell my mother about this, she's on the Council! You'll be sorry!" Sakura ranted, her words having much less of an impact due to the fact that she had tears in her eyes.

"Uh huh… Good luck with that. I wouldn't care if your mother was Kami-sama herself, she means as little to me as you do," Hinote spat.

"Hn."

"What the hell was that? Did the _Uchiha_ finally decide to grow some vocal chords?" Hinote snapped, her temper getting the better of her.

"Watch what you say. I'm an Uchiha and as such, I carry a lot of weight within this village. You'd best be on my good side if you wish to continue being ninja," Sasuke stated coldly.

"An Uchiha? Don't you mean _the_ Uchiha? As I recall, there isn't much of a clan left. As for a twelve year old boy having influence in a Hidden Village? Puh-lease," Hinote retorted.

Sasuke gave another 'hn' and turned away to brood again. That was, until Tenshi said,

"Oh yes, Naruto-sama I have something for you."

Naruto turned to Tenshi, his eyes shining with happiness as Tenshi reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a sealing scroll.

"As you know my clan specializes in seals as well as our bloodline. This is the culmination of a counter to one of our only weaknesses and as close to a perfect weapon as you could ever hope to get," she continued as Naruto opened the scroll excitedly and activated the storage seal.

With a puff of smoke a sword hilt dropped into his waiting hand. It was a ribbed leather design with an orange colour, which Naruto liked immensely, and had a blue diamond pattern along both sides. The pommel had a thick chain hanging from it that ended in a clasp. Naruto figured that since the hilt had no blade, there was no point in having a sheath and it was also rather large, being both thick and long enough for him to comfortably hold it with two hands. Holding the hilt in one hand, he felt a slight tingling travel up his arm, almost as if the hilt was trying to tell him something.

"Wow… what is it called?" he asked in awe.

"This is the legendary sword of the Tsurara clan, handed down from one clan leader to the next. Our combination jutsu that we specialize in has always been susceptible to fire techniques, and our craftsmen worked for almost ten years on this weapon, as our other weapons would heat up too much against opponents with fire techniques. This is a weapon impervious to both heat and magnetism, the Indefatigable Blade, Claimh Solias!" Tenshi explained proudly.

"So the blade comes out of the hilt right?" Naruto asked.

"The size of the blade is determined by the chakra capacity of the wielder, however it does not add any weight to the hilt, so a person with a large chakra capacity will have a large blade as light as a feather. To summon the blade you must mark yourself as the new wielder of Claimh Solias with an offering of your own blood and chakra. The sword will then bind to you and only accept you as its wielder until death," Tenshi answered.

By now, Naruto was drooling. Even Sasuke was amazed at the potential of such a weapon. If he had that blade, defeating Itachi would be that much easier. He had to have it, he _needed_ it.

"Dobe, give me that weapon," Sasuke demanded suddenly.

"What? Forget it Sasuke-teme, this is a gift and it belongs to me," Naruto replied sharply.

"You will give me that weapon!" Sasuke demanded again.

"Yeah Naruto-baka! If Sasuke-kun needs that thing you should just give it to him! An orphaned loser like you doesn't deserve such a powerful weapon!" Sakura shrieked.

Finally Naruto had had enough.

"FUCK YOU BOTH!" He shouted angrily. This outburst shocked all present in the room. "I was _just_ given this weapon as a gift from one of my closest friends and you dare to order that I surrender it to you! If we weren't on the same team I'd beat the shit out of you two for even suggesting that!"

"Pfft, as if you could even lay a finger on an Uch-," Sasuke started arrogantly.

Naruto's fist in his face stopped him from finishing his sentence. The blow was much stronger than Sasuke was expecting from Naruto and he was sent sprawling down the classroom, his left cheek swelling as a bruise began to form.

"Don't fuck with me, Uchiha! I don't care what family you're from, you're nothing but a fucking thief! As for you Haruno, I bet if Sasuke told you to try and murder Hokage-jiji you'd do it just to make him happy! You make me _sick_, and I'm disgusted at myself for even pretending to like you! But, since we're going to be on the same team, I'm willing to work with the pair of you… well, work with Sasuke, since you're useless Haruno. Y'know, I've had to work hard for everything in my life so far. Clothes. Food. Money. You two have, or have had, families to provide that for you. The one time something is given to me, you try and take it away! Had you just _asked_ Sasuke, since Tenshi's clan are master craftsmen, she might have had a weapon commissioned for you! If she said no then I'd have asked her to since you're my team-mate. But you can fucking forget it now!" Naruto finished, panting for breath as he tried to calm himself down.

Sasuke and Sakura were both rather shaken after that rant. Sasuke was shocked because not only had Naruto punched him in the face, he also would have offered to help him simply because they were being made to work together, and Sakura, because Naruto was only pretending to like her. Naruto glared at the two angrily before he sat down next to the window and let Hinote, Tenshi and Ken sit around him, consoling him while shooting nasty glances at the other two. They stayed like that for another hour before the classroom door slid open and a man with gravity-defying silver hair stepped into the room. We wore a standard jounin outfit with a blue facemask that covered his face up to and over his nose, and his headband covered his left eye. Overall he looked rather mysterious. He gazed at the six of them with a lazy eye for a few seconds before speaking.

"Hmm, my first impression of the three of you is… I don't like you. Team Seven meet me on the roof in five minutes."

After these words he vanished in a puff of smoke. Sakura and Sasuke both stood, while Naruto, Hinote, Tenshi and Ken remained seated.

"Hurry up dobe, or we'll go without you," Sasuke said snidely.

"Who says we're still here?" Naruto replied.

Without so much as a handseal, all four of them vanished in a swirl of leaves and smoke much like Kakashi had, leaving Sakura and Sasuke alone in the classroom. Sasuke scowled and clenched his jaw. _'He already knows the Shunshin? I need to get stronger! Strong enough to beat _him_…' _he thought angrily. _'I will find out how you're getting your power dobe, and I will take it for myself!'_

_Five minutes later…_

Kakashi and Naruto had just finished speaking with each other when Sasuke and Sakura arrived, slightly out of breath. Hinote, Ken and Tenshi smirked slightly at this and made themselves comfortable around the roof. They found it amusing that Sasuke and Sakura were tired since the only roof access area was on the opposite end of the Academy from where they started and was up five flights of steps, which should be nothing to a ninja. Well, only Sakura was out of breath. Sasuke simply walked over and sat on the stone step, clasping his hands in front of his face as he began to silently brood again, showing no signs of fatigue. As Sakura sat down between Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi addressed them once again.

"Alright you three, before we officially become Team Seven I'd like us to get to know each other better. Let's start with basic introductions," he said jovially.

"Um, sensei? Could you go first to give us an example?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"Iruka called you smart? Geez, I feel sorry for the other girls in your class… Billboard Brow," Hinote remarked snidely.

Hearing the familiar insult made Sakura freeze, memories of being picked on herself flashing through her mind. One thing stood out among all the jeers, taunts, whispers and insults. Her forehead.

"That was unnecessary Sumiyaka-san. However, since you asked Sakura, my name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes and dislikes… don't feel like talking about them, I have lots of hobbies, dreams for the future… never really thought about it. That sort of thing," Kakashi explained vaguely.

"That was… informative," Tenshi said calmly.

"Indeed. Blondie, you go first," Kakashi replied.

Naruto perked up and eagerly began his introduction.

"I'm Nam- I mean, Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, Tenshi-chan, Ken-chan, Hinote-chan, Hinata-chan and training. I dislike arrogant pricks, mindless fangirls, the three minute wait it takes for ramen to cook and people who don't look past the surface. My hobbies are gardening, training and reading! My dream for the future is to be Hokage and Konoha's first ever summoning specialist!"

"Hmm, interesting. Pinkie, you next."

Sakura frowned at the nickname but began regardless.

"I'm Haruno Sakura ("Faaaaaangiiiiiiiiiirl!" "Don't interrupt Hinote-chan.")… My likes are…" Sakura trailed off to glance at Sasuke, a blush lighting her cheeks. "My hobbies are- giggle- and my dreams for the future… *squeal*!"

"And… what do you dislike?" Kakashi asked blandly, already knowing where this was going.

"Naruto and his slut squad!" Sakura exclaimed violently.

"Join the club Haruno… seriously there's a club and they've got jackets. Go to the community centre on Wednesdays and Saturdays," Naruto replied, his voice thick with boredom. "I hear they serve cookies too."

Sakura could only blink in surprise. Did Naruto really not care anymore? Sakura suddenly felt a wave of remorse that Naruto had stopped paying attention to her. Though she would never admit it, she actually felt good that someone was interested in her, it made her feel important. She got a sense of pleasure denying Naruto only to watch him come back again and again. He had become her pillar. Her only constant in the world, besides her love for Sasuke… and now he was lost to her. Was she really that bad? Sakura suddenly looked up when Kakashi spoke again.

"Well you're all unique and have interesting dreams, that's good. Meet me in training grounds seven for our first mission tomorrow at 6am and don't be late! Also I want you to skip breakfast tomorrow morning, I can't have my cute little genin throwing up during the work."

"What kind of mission will we be doing? Tenshi tells me that most genin teams start of at D-ranks, what are they like? Will we be escorting people to small towns? Hunting down escaped criminals?" Naruto asked, eyes shining with excitement.

"Nothing too elaborate. Actually we'll be doing a survival exercise," Kakashi answered.

"An exercise? We did those in the Academy, we're ready for the real ninja work! What gives sensei?" Naruto barked back.

Kakashi gave the hints of a grin from underneath his mask at Naruto's outburst.

"Actually you three aren't really Genin yet. This exercise is the _real_ Genin examination, the one given by the jounin senseis to see if you really have what it takes to be ninja. Out of everyone that passed the academy exam, only three new teams will be put into circulation, meaning the test has a 66% failure rate this year. The rest that fail will be sent back to the Academy for another year of remediation," he explained before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Throughout this, Sakura realised with horror that her inner monologue had caused her to miss Sasuke's introduction.

"Naruto-baka!"

Naruto blinked as Sakura raised her fist to him before he whipped out his new sword hilt. Faster then Sakura could react Naruto used his other hand and bit down on his thumb, drawing blood, which he then ran down the length of the hilt. In a flash of chakra, Sakura was staring at a very large and very sharp looking blade made of some sort of crystal material that shimmered beautiful in the sunlight. Sakura froze, having heard about the weapon's destructive power it gave to its wielder. Naruto could slice her hand clean off with one swipe if he aimed it right… Sakura gulped and for the first time, realized that Naruto would no longer take any abuse from her without retaliating.

"G-gomen… Naruto…" Sakura mumbled quietly, feeling utterly defeated.

Naruto blinked in surprise that Sakura had actually backed down and decided that perhaps the best thing to do was to try and be diplomatic.

"Apology accepted Haruno-san. Just make sure it doesn't happen again please," Naruto replied calmly.

Sakura nodded and shrank back before sitting down, staring at her sandals. Sasuke simply scoffed and stood, leaving the roof without a further word. Hinote made a big show of pretending to release a breath she had been holding as Naruto, Tenshi and Ken laughed about it. Suddenly Naruto had a great thought.

"Hey girls, why don't we go out for ramen to celebrate becoming teams? My treat!"

Naruto and the other three girls stood as they declared their affirmative and began to leave, jumping across the rooftops. However before he left the roof Naruto stopped and silently began cursing his chivalrous nature. He turned around to the upset Sakura and addressed her, trying to sound as friendly as he could, despite being very annoyed at her.

"The invitation extends to you as well Haruno-san. We are a team after all, we should look out for each other and right now you look like you could use some company," he said quietly.

Sakura looked up at Naruto, her eyes barely holding back her tears before she gave a small smile and nodded. Sakura and the Yondaime look-alike leapt off after Team Namikaze, heading for Ichiraku Ramen. Along the way Naruto explained vaguely about how he met the girls and why they were such good friends of his. Sakura was amazed that Naruto supposedly managed to steal the Forbidden Scroll and defeat Mizuki-sensei, who had been removed from the Academy mysteriously around a few weeks ago. Maybe Naruto was stronger than he looked… after all; he'd been training with Team Namikaze for a good two weeks before arriving for team placements. More and more thoughts swirled through Sakura's mind though one in particular kept coming to the forefront.

'_How strong are you, Naruto?'_

**At Ichiraku Ramen…**

"Hey Old Man! Four bowls of pork ramen, three miso for my friends, and what would you like Sakura?" Naruto exclaimed cheerfully.

"I-I'm fine thanks. I'm on a diet and-," Sakura began quietly.

"_What?"_

Sakura blinked at how _cold_ Tenshi had managed to make that one word sound. Tenshi was looking at her with a mix of disappointment, disgust and annoyance but she didn't seem angry. Sakura trembled slightly and upon seeing this Tenshi sighed and put her hand to her forehead. _'This girl really needs to learn what it means to be a kunoichi or she'll be killed walking out the gates of this village,'_ she thought, irritated.

"Alright Haruno-san. You don't seem to like me and I definitely don't like you, but I shall impart upon you some good advice," Tenshi said clearly, making sure that Sakura listened. "Kunoichi. Don't. Diet. To do so is frankly beyond stupidity. Have you _ever_ heard of an overweight kunoichi, besides in the Akimichi Clan? No, you haven't. This is because a kunoichi's training and duty as a ninja is physically strenuous and will burn away any calories you may take in, meaning you should eat plenty and healthily, not skip meals to make yourself thin. After all, _Sasuke-kun_ doesn't seem to like weak girls. Now order something before I choose for you and believe me you WILL eat it."

Tenshi finished and noticed that Naruto and Hinote were staring at her strangely.

"What?"

"That's the most you've ever said in one conversation… I mean, ever," Naruto replied, awed at her lengthy rant.

Tenshi's eye twitched at that, before she calmed down as the ramen was brought out. Sakura eventually ended up ordering a chicken ramen and Naruto engaged in conversation with all four girls, talking about any and everything, seemingly getting more cheerful by the minute. Sakura found this strange until Ken leaned over and whispered to her.

"I know what you're thinking but you have to remember that Naruto has never had any real friends or parents to talk to. Being able to talk like this is something he's wanted for a long time and he's cherishing every moment he gets with his friends, now that he has some," she said seriously.

Sakura nodded, feeling guilty that she was so quick to push Naruto away whenever he tried to be nice to her. She tuned back in just in time to hear Naruto say,

"-think about not eating breakfast tomorrow? It sounds dodgy to me."

"Excellent observation Naruto-kun. I think you should ignore what Kakashi-san told you about that. Breakfast is the most important meal in the day," Tenshi replied, her voice conveying her praise.

"Yeah, that muppet must want you to be hungry for some reason… maybe he's going to try and use that against you tomorrow?" Hinote added.

"What's a muppet?" Naruto asked.

"Um… never mind. The point is that you, Haruno and Uchiha-teme need to work together in whatever exercise he gives you. After all, Konoha is quite possibly the strongest Hidden Village because of its four-man cells and the amount of teamwork its ninja use to protect it," Hinote replied casually. "Always remember Naruto-kun, there is no 'I' in 'team'."

"Speaking of that, I don't want you to rely on us to help you tomorrow Naruto-kun. You need to use this exercise to grow by yourself and show that you can work with others, not just us three. We'll probably be checking with Hokage-sama about our duties tomorrow," Ken said dreamily, her head in the clouds.

Naruto nodded eagerly as he finished his ramen.

"Thanks for the meal Old Man, tell Ayame-chan I said hi will ya?" he declared. "I'll see you girls when you get home. See you tomorrow… Sakura."

**The next morning…**

Naruto woke up to the smell of cooking, his nose twitching in joy. He sat up with a groan and glanced at his clock, blowing the tail of his funny nightcap out of his face as he did so. _'Hmm… it's only 7:28am… WAIT WHAT?'_ he thought, immediately becoming wide awake. He got up and grabbed a set of fresh clothes, the same outfit Tenshi and her team had helped him buy, before he rushed into the bathroom. In a whirlwind of activity he was washed and dressed in only five minutes. He burst out of his bathroom and was about to jump out the window when a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"Naruto-kun, don't forget to eat your breakfast," Tenshi said calmly, eyeing Naruto with amusement.

"But Ten-chan I'm really late! What if Kakashi-sensei fails me?" Naruto practically screamed.

"Kakashi-san won't be there for at least another half-hour. You can eat your breakfast and get to the training grounds with time to spare, so long as you start eating _now_," Tenshi replied somewhat forcefully.

Naruto sighed in relief/defeat.

"Alright, alright. Thanks Ten-chan, I dunno what I'd do without you," Naruto replied.

"Turn into an orange wearing idiot screaming 'Believe it!' every few seconds," Tenshi answered sagely.

Naruto sweatdropped and sat himself down in his only chair. His apartment was rather small, consisting of a main room with a futon, a small kitchen to the side and a bathroom the size of a cupboard. His floor was littered with scrolls, books and writing materials and empty ramen cups covered the kitchen. Tenshi had found a large basket of fruit on his windowsill when she crept in that morning, signed from Kakashi with a little chibi drawing of the man, which brought a smile to her face. Returning to the present, Tenshi grabbed Naruto's frying pan from the cooker and dished out what looked like flat, round bread with bits of white stuff in it.

"What are these?" Naruto asked, curious but not wary.

"Banana pancakes. Kakashi-san left a basket of fruit for you so I figured I'd make some use out of it. I even made some orange juice," Tenshi replied, setting down a glass.

Naruto decided then and there that he liked Kakashi. The man was thoughtful. Grabbing his knife and fork, Naruto took a bite of the mysterious meal before him… before dying and ascending to heaven where banana pancakes grew from ramen stands by the thousands. Seriously, this was the best breakfast Naruto had ever eaten. Not even his cup of ramen or glass of milk he usually had was as delectable as the meal he was currently devouring. The sweetness of the fried bananas balanced perfectly against the savoury nature of the pancakes. Between bites Naruto spoke to Tenshi.

"This is delicious Ten-chan! Thank you!"

Tenshi smiled warmly, a smile Naruto had only ever seen directed at him. It warmed his heart to know that Tenshi liked him, that all his new friends liked him. After saving Iruka, Naruto had spent the two weeks being trained by the three kunoichi's as well as getting to know them and how they came to idolize the Yondaime. Naruto still had mixed feelings about the man though, and didn't know whether he respected him for making the ultimate sacrifice to protect those precious to him, or hated him for sealing the Kyuubi into him and making the first 13 years of his life a living hell. Regardless, Naruto had to meet up with his team and Kakashi and so he finished his breakfast, grabbed Claimh Solias, and jumped out the window after giving Tenshi a quick hug. Tenshi watched him go, her red eyes easily picking him out in the distance, smiling lightly. She was happy that Naruto had turned out so well despite his treatment and that he had been accepted by Claimh Solias. As soon as he had, his future was assured...

**At Training Ground 7...**

Naruto arrived the training ground and saw that only Sasuke and Sakura had arrived before him, which meant that he wasn't late yet. However, Sakura and Sasuke did not share Tenshi's logic of when people are or aren't late.

"YOU'RE LATE NARUTO!" Sakura yelled at him angrily.

"Actually, since Kakashi isn't here yet I'd counter that I'm not late, but that you two are just early," Naruto replied calmly.

Sakura paused at that and thought it over while Sasuke just 'hn'd' at him. Naruto sighed slightly, hoping that Sakura wasn't going to go back to her old way of treating him so soon and leaned against one of the three large wooden training posts. Looking around the training field he spotted something strange and walked over to it. It was a large black stone shaped like a diamond on all but one side, which was perfectly flat. On the flat side, in a tiny print, was names upon names all across the surface. Naruto read through them quickly until his eyes caught one name in particular.

"Namikaze... Minato..." Naruto breathed.

"The Yondaime Hokage... yes, Naruto this is the Memorial Stone where the heroes of Konoha are immortalized," came a voice from just behind him.

Naruto jumped slightly but quickly calmed and turned around. Kakashi stood over him, looking at the stone sadly. Naruto remembered Tenshi saying that Kakashi was a student of the Yondaime, meaning that Kakashi had lost and teacher, maybe even a mentor, when Naruto had lost his father, though Naruto couldn't miss a person he never knew. Kakashi quickly blinked a few times before turning away and leading Naruto back to Sasuke and Sakura, who were sitting down now in boredom.

"Alright you three, we're going to have your real Genin Test now. I explained it all yesterday and now I'll explain how this is going to work. I have here two bells," Kakashi pulled two silver bells tied to each other with thin red string, the bells jingling softly in the light wind. "The ones who can get a bell off of me before noon will pass."

"But there's only two bells sensei," Sakura pointed out.

"Very astute Sakura," Kakashi answered with an eye smile. "That means at least one of you will fail and be sent back to the Academy."

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other in shock. So it was pass yourself and another, while damning the third to a year at the Academy, or fail and let your team mates go on without you? Naruto knew immediately that he had to get a bell for himself and prayed that it was Sakura that got the other. While he didn't like her very much, she was much more tolerable than Sasuke-fucking-Uchiha. Kakashi set down an alarm clock on a stump near the training logs and addressed them once more.

"This clock is set to go off at noon. On your marks, get set, BEGIN!"

Sasuke and Sakura immediately dashed off and into the cover of the trees, while Naruto vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves. _'Well at least they know how to conceal themselves...' _Kakashi thought, while watching the area around him for signs of movement. He easily managed to pick out Sakura's shining pink hair in the branches of a nearby tree, but Sasuke was more elusive. A few seconds later Kakashi spotted him under a bush, watching him like a hawk. When he saw that Kakashi had noticed him he quickly moved on. Kakashi smirked under his mask and focused on trying to spot Naruto, who he had yet to find.

"Oi Kakashi!"

Kakashi turned around and saw Naruto standing ten feet behind him, in the plain open. Either Naruto's shunshin was off or he hadn't bothered trying to hide.

"You're a strange one Naruto..." Kakashi drawled.

"The only thing strange here is that hair of yours! How does it defy gravity so? Or did you have an accident as a child with the glue jar?" Naruto retorted, trying to get under Kakashi's skin.

"Impressive Naruto. You've been asking around if you figured that out. Ninja level thinking," Kakashi replied coolly.

Naruto wasn't sure if Kakashi was joking or not but it was clear that his taunt hadn't worked. Naruto glowered and rushed into melee range, opting to use fists and feet first to try and grab a bell before he used Claimh Solias. However, he stopped before getting within five feet of Kakashi due to his shock as said jounin pulled a book out of his equipment pouch. Kakashi simply opened the book and began to stare at it, seemingly reading. Naruto glowered and looked as closely as he could without moving, one of the things Ken-chan had taught him during the fortnight of training. _"There will always be things that are not as they seem from first glance Naruto. You must learn to focus and separate the reality from the illusion."_ With a start Naruto noticed it. While Kakashi was looking at the book in his hand, he wasn't actually reading. He was simply staring at the one spot on the page and his stance was still slightly tense. He was simply pretending to try and make Naruto angry and it had almost succeeded. Naruto thought quickly as to how he could sue this to his advantage before Kakashi realized he'd caught on. Suddenly he had it...

"Hey, what are you reading a book for?" Naruto yelled at him, inwardly smirking.

"I want to see what happens next of course. Don't worry you won't be any threat to m-," Kakashi was unable to finish due to a fist in his jaw.

Naruto, five feet away, smirked outwardly as his plan worked. Kakashi didn't know what abilities Naruto possessed and was overconfident, letting Naruto spawn a Kagebushin below Kakashi's line of vision and within striking range. Kakashi stumbled back in shock, seeing two Naruto's before he frowned. With a lightning fast kick, he dispelled the kagebushin... or so he thought. As soon as he'd kicked it hard enough to dispell it, the clonebegan to glow brightly, giving him an almost feral grin.

"Boom..."

A large explosion tore through the air, leaving a cloud of dust and smoke behind that obscured Naruto's vision. He mentally thanked his foresight when he thought to copy down the instructions for the *_Kagebushin Daibakuha_ in the Forbidden Scroll. However his musing was cut short when Kakashi appeared behind him with his hands together in the tiger seal. Naruto could only turn around as fast as he could but even as he tried, it was already too late.

"First lesson! Taijutsu: *_Konoha Taijutsu Ougi: Sennen Goroshi!_" Kakashi exclaimed, thrusting his hands forward...

… right into Naruto's unguarded rear. Naruto's face went slack in shock before he was sent flying, screaming in pain. Kakashi smirked as Naruto landed in the stream at the edge of the training grounds, before he was forced to dodge a barrage of kunai and shuriken from the trees. It seemed Sasuke was ready to play...

"Next lesson Sasuke... Ninjutsu," Kakashi taunted.

Sasuke ignored him and rushed forward, using some impressive taijutsu for an academy student, a punch-kick combo that left Sasuke upside down and within reach to touch one of the bells on Kakashi's waist. Kakashi jumped back and watched in shock as Sasuke began going through a series of handseals.

"What's with these kids?" he almost yelled.

"_Katon: Gogakyuu no jutsu!_" Sasuke cried, launching a large fireball at Kakashi.

He kept up the stream of flames for a few seconds and as it disappated he lost sight of the jounin. He looked around, trying to find the man before he was ambushed. _'He's not left or right, he isn't behind me... Above? No... that means!'_ Sasuke thought in shock.

"Below!" Kakashi exclaimed as his arms burst from the ground at Sasuke's feet.

However, before he could complete his jutsu to incapacitate Sasuke, he was interrupted by the ground around him breaking apart. Kakashi's eyes widened in shock as a giant blade of crystal nearly took his head off. He jumped clear of the broken earth and turned to his would-be assailant, only to see Naruto with the largest sword he had ever seen resting on his shoulder. Naruto in particular looked pretty pissed off.

"Alright you ass-poking bastard! The kid gloves are coming off!" Naruto exclaimed angrily. "Sasuke, back me up here."

Sasuke frowned at Naruto and was about to tell him he didn't need him when Sakura burst from the undergrowth, kunai in hand. Naruto simply grinned at Kakashi, as suddenly the forest around them began flickering with movement. Kakashi was confused until he saw another Sasuke walk out of the treeline. Then another Naruto appeared, overly large sword and all. Behind him, two more Sakura's appeared while more Naruto's, Sasuke's and Sakura's arrived from the trees, the bushes and even walking out of the stream! In seconds, Kakashi was completely surrounded by a small army of three academy students.

"See Sasuke? This asshole can't take all three of us on. Not when there's so many of us," Naruto said, grinning.

Sasuke couldn't help himself and began smiling himself, his eyes bright with excitement.

"Alright dobe, let's see what else you have up your sle-," he began.

**RIIIIIIIIIING!**

"Time's up!" Kakashi exclaimed, expertly hiding his relief at not having to fight the veritable army of clones.

With a frown Naruto released his jutsu and the area around them became clouded in smoke. As it cleared, Kakashi noticed that the real Sakura was much closer to him than he first thought, and that some of the bushins were the academy level ones that Sakura had created herself. _'Did Sakura and Naruto come up with a plan together?'_ Kakashi thought to himself. He beckoned Team 7 to follow him and led them back to the training posts. Naruto, still frowning, jumped atop the middle one and sat down, while Sasuke and Sakura leaned against the other two.

"Well it looks like none of you managed to get a bell. Normally I would fail you right here and now but I have to ask, if you'd had more time, what were the bushins going to do?" Kakashi said, his visible eye looking curiously at them.

"Well, me and Sakura met up in the woods when you poked my ass into the stream (you bastard). I suggested we try and work together and Sakura came up with the plan to make clones of all of us, some kage bushin and others just plain bushin to try and confuse you. In the chaos, we were hoping that Sasuke would be able to get the bells while we generated more bushins, even though he didn't know the plan," Naruto explained evenly. "It was obvious we'd have to work together to even get the bells in the first place, since you're an elite jounin. Like Ten-chan said, there's no 'I' in 'team'."

"Impressive. Well Sasuke, if time hadn't ran out and their plan had worked, would you have shared the bells?" Kakashi asked the silent member of the team.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted as he thought about it. "Another year in the Academy wouldn't hurt, I'm an Uchiha after all. These two made a good plan, so I'd give the bells to them."

Kakashi looked surprised and narrowed his visible eye at Sasuke, looking for any signs of deception.

"Well... I suppose the three of you... pass," Kakashi finished happily.

"Really?" Sakura asked, her eyes shining hopefully.

"Yes. This test, as Naruto correctly said, was about teamwork. Pitting the three of you against each other was the best way to see if you could overcome your own selfish desire and work together towards a common goal. While I'm disappointed that you didn't manage to include Sasuke in your plan, you all seem to show that you can cooperate for the benefit of the team over the benefit of yourselves. Remember these words, 'those you disobey the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than the lowest trash'," Kakashi proclaimed. "As your official jounin sensei, I'll help you three to hone that team spirit and make you into a formidable force. Welcome to Team 7."

"YES! Wait until I tell Ten-chan, Hinote-chan and Ken-chan about this! Oh I hope Hinata-chan passed her test as well, this is soooo cool!" Naruto started ranting. "I bet we're gonna have super-cool missions and learn loads of new jutsu from Kakashi-sensei!"

As Naruto continued to babble, he released Claimh Solias' blade and attached the blade-less hilt to his waist.

"Well team, I have to report to Hokage-sama. Meet me here tomorrow at 7am to begin our first missions," Kakashi said over Naruto's excited exclamations, before he used the shunshin to vanish in a burst of smoke and leaves.

Sasuke took this as the cue to leave as well and walked out of the training grounds, quickly followed by Sakura who started asking him out on the pre-tense of bettering their teamwork. Naruto continued to ramble until he realised everyone had left and sighed, before making his way back home. As he walked, the gentle bumping of Claimh Solias against his leg was enough to cheer him up. He may have to work on his relationship with his sensei and team-mates, but he had three wonderful and beautiful friends already. With Hinata and others sure to come, Naruto couldn't help but smile brightly. Villagers seeing his smile either moved to avoid him or scowled harder as he passed. Though not even this was enough to dampen Naruto's mood as he reached his apartment building. Climbing the stairs, he wondered if his friends were already waiting for him. He reached his door and took a deep breath. This was something he'd always wanted to do, something he'd seen around him almost all his life but never got to enjoy himself. He stepped over the threshold of his apartment, his heart in his throat.

"I'm back."

As Tenshi, Hinote and Ken emerged from the main room to hug Naruto and welcome him, he couldn't help tearing up a little.

He was home.

* * *

**And done. I apologize for taking so long to write this chapter, however things here at home aren't going very well. I'll still try to write as frequently as I can. Before anyone flames me, I do NOT own Claimh Solias, the concept of the sword came from Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. An old game, but one of my favorites. Hopefully we'll see some more of it once I finalize my ideas on what it's capabilities are. As said earlier in the chapter, Naruto might have other weapons commissioned for Sasuke and Sakura but I'm trying to decide on what would be best for them.**

**I know this chapter was also rather brief, but the next one should be longer and also give a better idea of who my OC's are and a bit more about their backgrounds, as well as their abilities.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Sound of Thunder

**He Is My Master: Elemental Summoner Naruto!**

**Ahoy everyone, and here's the 4th chapter of my Naruto fic.**

**After watching an entertaining anime, I have decided on what Naruto's signature non-Rasengan move will be. You'll have to figure it out for yourselves, but there will be hints over the next couple of chapters. Plus in this chapter we'll get to see more of what Claimh Solais can do, besides fit a sword the size of a surfboard in someone's pocket. To all who gave me positive reviews between the posting of the previous chapter and this one, thank you! :3 On another note, I realise that I haven't actually described Naruto's new outfit, so that'll be done during this chapter. I would also love, through PM's or reviews, to hear any suggestions on what other summoning contracts Naruto will get, one of which is the Toad contract as usual. However to keep Naruto aligned with his "Summoning Specialist" ambition, I feel he should have at least two other contracts. However Naruto will also be strong in his own right, but nowhere near super or godlike levels. Cookies to anyone who can spot all of the cameos from other animes or mangas (I do not own the Castlevania concept of Claimh Solais/any similarities with copyrighted characters are purely coincidental). Also, this chapter is a little shorter than the last, but is more about information than ass-kicking I'm afraid.**

**Finally I'd like to clarify that although the story is marked as Naruto/Tayuya, it also has heavy Naru/Hina as well as some Naru/OC in the future. Now, on this topic I'd like to open a poll, as to who Naruto should end up with for good, as trying to have a big harem is probably outside my writing abilities unless I use Kage bushins like party favours:**

**Naruto/Tayuya only.**

**Naruto/Hinata only.**

**Naruto/OC only.**

**Naruto/Tayuya/OC. (Decide for yourself which of the 3 OC's you'd like Naruto to be with most, but it can only be one of them)**

**Naruto/Tayuya/Hinata. (OC doesn't end up in the relationship)**

**Naruto/Hinata/OC. (Tayuya not in relationship)**

**Naruto/Hinata/Tayuya/OC. (Maximum size of harem, if this is chosen. There will be NO additions. Ever.)**

**With that out of the way, here we go!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Sound of Thunder**

_The weather outside was, as usual, grey and miserable. Thunder rolled across the sky as lightning flashed in the distance. Ikazuchi Ken, daughter of the head of the Ikazuchi Clan, looked out the window of her bedroom and sighed. How she wished for the sun to come out, for her to be able to play outside in one of the few trees that grew on the flat, rocky plains of Kumo without the fear of being struck by lightning. Just yesterday she'd celebrated her fifth birthday and began training in her Clan's secret jutsu. The Ikazuchi Clan was not technically under the jurisdiction of Kumogakure, or the Raikage, and so Ken had to learn the ways of the kunoichi from her family. Fortunately, her clan was allowed to live in Kumo, in seclusion, with the blessing of the Daimyo so long as they helped to defend their home and shared some of their unique Raiton jutsu. What the Daimyo of Kumo was unaware of, was that the clan had a bloodline which far outclassed any Raiton jutsu they may have shared._

"_Ken. It is time."_

"_Hai," Ken replied quietly._

_Ken didn't actually like being part of a Hidden Nin Clan. She wanted to have friends and play, not train and study to be a kunoichi. However, this was not an option for her. She opened her room door and looked up at the one who had called her. Her father, Ikazuchi Kenpachi, was a mountain of a man and also a very skilled swordsman. With their Ration jutsu they had developed, he was able to cloak himself in lightning so that any metallic weapon that tried to cut him simply bounced off his skin like he was made of diamond. The famed *'Rai no Yoroi' was one of the jutsu the Ikazuchi Clan decided to share with Kumogakure, which the current Raikage had taken a liking to. Ken looked up at her father warily. He was a harsh sensei, but he was also fair. Her training so far had been brutal for her young body, but her father never asked for more than her absolute limit, but he never let her perform less. Kenpachi beckoned her along and Ken followed him outside of their compound, built into the side of one of the mountains that covered the entirety of Kumo, and into their training ground. There were a few other clansmen around, training their bodies and minds, but none were even close to Ken's age. She was the only child born to her clan in her generation so far and she was upset that she didn't even have family her age she could play games with._

"_You have been practising the last technique I showed you," Kenpachi said sternly, more of a statement than a question._

"_H-Hai... Sensei..." Ken replied quietly, eyeing the ground in front of her._

_Had she looked up, she would have seen her fathers eyes soften slightly at her nervousness. He wasn't the best father he could be towards his only child, but he had to be strict. When the time came for the Ikazuchi to repay their debt to the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha, Namikaze Minato, they had to have the best ninja they could._

"_Very well daughter. Show me your power," Kenpachi stated. "If I am satisfied with your proficiency then we shall skip tomorrow's training session. I hear you wish to see Thunder Falls?"_

_Ken looked up at her father in surprise before smiling widely. Immediately she focused her chakra and began a series of handseals unique to the Ikazuchi Clan that would activate her bloodline's power. Once she was ready she looked at one of the insulated training dummies at the edge of the cavern that served as the training grounds before exclaiming-_

***"_Ranton: Raiden no jutsu!_"**

Naruto, in an impressive display of acrobatics, spun his body over the main bolt of electricity from Ken's jutsu, however he failed to compensate for the wind component. The Ranton techniques Ken used were a combination of raiton and futon chakras, one of the most destructive ever seen. Naruto flew back a good ten metres before hitting the ground and rolling to a stop, breathing heavily. He shakily got onto his feet as Ken approached.

"Well done Naruto-kun. We'll stop for now," she said, her voice having none of its usual dreamy quality.

"I can keep going!" Naruto exclaimed in protest.

"No. You're already bruised and battered from three hours of dodging my attacks," Ken retorted. "However if you wish to keep training, let's see how you're progressing with that raiton jutsu I showed you."

Naruto nodded half-heartedly before tightening his stance. His flashed through some handseals before holding out his right arm.

*"_Raiton: Shu rai no jutsu!_" Naruto exclaimed.

Electricity sparked around Naruto's arm, travelling along to his wrist, lightning snaking around his limb and snapping off slightly in random directions as the jutsu tried and failed to be expelled from Naruto's palm. Naruto panted as he stopped channelling chakra through his arm, the leftover electricity discharging lightly from his outstretched arm. He let it fall to his side as he groaned in frustration. Every time he thought he had it, the jutsu would stop when it reached his wrist and the build up of electricity would hurt him until he cancelled it.

"That wasn't too bad, but I noticed that you were still allowing too much raiton chakra to escape from your arm as it neared your wrist. It needs to build up to critical levels and be released in one burst for the jutsu to be effective," Ken said appraisingly.

"Can I try channelling the chakra through Claimh Solais? Ten-chan said the sword can handle different chakra natures in different ways," Naruto asked.

"I don't think so Naruto-kun. This jutsu is meant to be a bolt of lightning in one direction. Claimh Solais would simply expel the electricity along its crystalline structure randomly so there would be no way to control the jutsu," Ken replied thoughtfully. "Perhaps you could use your other arm to stabilize the flow of raiton chakra to your hand?"

Naruto grunted and prepared to try the jutsu again.

"_Raiton: Shu rai no jutsu!_" Naruto exclaimed, this time holding his right bicep with his left hand, his right palm outstretched in front of him.

There was a noticeable difference this time as lightning rapidly snaked along Naruto's right arm, discharging a medium sized bolt from his palm and striking one of the wooden training posts, charring the surface and piercing lightly into it. Naruto let his arm fall once more as he stared at the training post in awe, finally completing the jutsu he'd been working on in his spare time with Ken for the last week. With a cheer, Naruto jumped up and down before grabbing Ken in a tight hug, which she returned.

"Did you see Ken-chan? It worked! I finally did it, and it's all thanks to you!" Naruto exclaimed happily.

"Well done Naruto-kun... I'm proud of you," Ken replied, her distant voice coming back. "Let's go home... celebrate..."

Naruto nodded eagerly, hoping that Tenshi would make him her special ramen again. While he adored all three of them, Tenshi was the only one able to cook well and her ramen rivalled even Old Man Teuchi's. As they walked out of the training ground, Ken stopped for a moment and looked back at the damaged training post with a smile.

"_I'm proud of you... Ken-chan," Kenpachi said, smiling slightly._

_'Thank you... Tou-san,'_ Ken thought to herself. She turned back to Naruto who was looking back at her curiously. Ken simply smiled and grabbed his hand before continuing to on their walk home, thinking back to that one time in her childhood. That one moment where she wasn't the daughter of a strict Clan Head. That one time where it was simply her, and her Dad.

**The next day...**

"If we have to catch that bastard cat one more time, I'm gonna snap its neck," Naruto growled angrily as he pulled out the weeds in the flower patch he was tasked to. "Then I'll skin it, cook it and send it in a bento back to its owner."

After a week of D-ranked missions, Naruto was beginning to lose his patience, especially since he'd been clawed up by that damned cat each of the three times they'd had to catch it. Not only that but even with Sakura no longer hitting him, she was still being a bitch and Sasuke was... well, Sasuke.

"NARUTO-BAKA!" Sakura screeched at him. "Tora belongs to the Fire Daimyo's wife! You can't just kill her cat!"

"Watch me," Naruto shot back, glowering heavily.

"Hn." Guess who?

Kakashi stood to the side reading his usual orange book. Though he appeared inattentive, he was also listening to his team's dialogue and found himself slightly disappointed by their behaviour. Naruto's attitude he could understand, since Kakashi himself had had to catch Tora's mother, which was also called Tora. It appeared that being the demon spawn from hell ran in the family. However, Sasuke and Sakura weren't shaping up how he'd hoped. Naruto had graduated dead-last from the Academy, despite the fact that he was far from it now. Kakashi had had the privilege of meeting Naruto's new companions and guardians earlier in the week and was shocked at Naruto's progress under their tutelage. Apparently they'd been focusing mostly on his chakra con-

"Momo-chan!"

Everyone turned to the source of the cry and saw the young daughter of their client crying at the base of one of the trees near the house. Naruto glanced up and spotted what appeared to be a small white kitten hanging by its front paws from one of the branches near an open window on the second floor. He immediately deduced that the poor kitten was simply exploring and fell from the windowsill. Kakashi spotted the kitten as well and moved to intervene when Naruto rushed past him. Surprised, Kakashi watched as Naruto ran up to the tree, and then began to run _up_ the tree. Clearly he was further along in his control training than Kakashi had realised.

"Kakashi-sensei? How's Naruto doing that?" Sakura exclaimed.

"It's a chakra control exercise called Tree Walking. By applying chakra at a constant amount to the soles of his feet, Naruto can walk up vertical surfaces, such as that tree," Kakashi explained while keeping his eye on his blonde student.

Naruto reached the point where the branch exited from the tree trunk and noted that it was too narrow for him to try and cross. The kitten Momo was also just out of his reach, and seemed to be losing its grip as it squealed and flailed its hind legs, causing the little girl below to sob even harder. Racking his brain, Naruto quickly came up with a plan and threw his hands out towards the wall of the house. With a puff of smoke, a Kagebushin appeared holding his hands with its own, bridging the gap between the kitten and the tree. Holding out the clone by its left hand with both of his, Naruto instructed the clone to grab Momo with its free hand. Said clone easily scooped up the little creature and handed the now meowing kitten to Naruto before dispelling itself. With Momo safe in hand, Naruto walked back down the tree and handed the kitten to the little girl, who was staring at him in awe.

"That was amazing!" she cried delightedly. "You saved Momo-chan! Thank you! Thank you!"

The little kitten gave a quiet meow from her arms as if to say thank you as well. Naruto simply grinned and rubbed the back of his head before ushering the little girl to take Momo back inside. Turning to his team, Naruto was surprised to see Sakura and Sasuke scowling, while Kakashi eye-smiled.

"Good job Naruto. That was quite impressive how you handled that," Kakashi said as Naruto approached. "But why didn't you just walk up the side of the house?"

"I only finished getting the hang of walking on trees Kakashi-sensei. Walking on different surfaces takes different amounts of chakra and I didn't have time to try," Naruto replied casually.

"I see. Well I'll make sure to commend your performance on this mission once we finish up here," Kakashi said. "Also, I guess I'll have to teach Sakura and Sasuke the Tree Climbing exercise as well so you don't leave them behind."

"I'll help if you want," Naruto declared.

Kakashi's eye-smile grew even wider if that was possible and he ruffled Naruto's hair before sending him back to the flower bed. It seemed as though Naruto was going to be the one to act as the anchor for the team. His growth would hopefully encourage Sasuke and Sakura to work harder and as a team. Kakashi didn't notice the glares Sasuke shot at Naruto behind his back while Sakura looked to be deep in thought. _'That was quite impressive of Naruto. Even Sasuke and I can't tree walk yet,' _she thought to herself. _**'Cha! I bet Sasuke will be able to do it way faster than Naruto once Kaka-sensei teaches it to us!'**_Thankfully, for Naruto's patience, the 'mission' only took another thirty minutes. After having the mission scroll signed by the client, with a note for Naruto's exceptional performance (what Team 7 didn't know was that Kakashi forged the client's handwriting to add the note himself as the man had blatantly ignored Naruto's altruistic behaviour), Team 7 began their trek back to the Hokage Tower. On the way...

"Naruto-kun!"

Naruto turned at the shout to see Tenshi, Hinote and Ken walking towards them.

"Ten-chan, Hino-chan, Ken-chan!" Naruto exclaimed happily. "What's up?"

"We just finished another lame ass D-rank mission. I swear that old bastard has it in for us after Tenshi found his Icha Icha book and destroyed it," Hinote replied grumpily.

"Hino-chan, don't talk about Jiji that way," Naruto snapped.

"Brat. You call him 'Old Man'," Hinote answered, her eyes burning holes into Naruto's forehead. "Though you still respect him. Why can't I respect him while calling him what he is?"

Naruto had no real answer for that. He did called Sarutobi Hiruzen 'Old Man', which could be seen as disrespectful, however Naruto practically worshipped him and called him such as his way of showing respect. _'I guess Hinote-chan is right, I mean she curses a lot already. Maybe it's just her way of showing respect,'_ Naruto thought to himself.

"Even so it just sounds really rude," Naruto argued. "Why not call him an old git then?"

Hinote actually stopped to think about it. Naruto waited for her response but was surprised when she suddenly grabbed him and started grinding her knuckles into his scalp playfully.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you, brat!" she exclaimed playfully, noogie-ing the hell out of his head. "But if you don't like how I call people then that's just too fucking bad!"

"Anyway Naruto, we are heading back to the Tower to report our mission success before heading back to the apartment. We're having teriyaki tonight, no complaints," Tenshi interrupted before their childish argument grow any larger.

"What? Aww, come on Ten-chan!" Naruto protested, making his bottom lip quiver slightly.

Tenshi saw his look but quickly and firmly crushed his ploy with a firm 'No'. Her outward behaviour was enough to have Yuuhi Kurenai's title as Ice Queen of Konoha be given to her. She had been approached by quite a few men already but they were all put off by her apparent apathy. Naruto sighed and nodded to Tenshi before flashing her a grin. Had anyone been watching carefully they would have seen Tenshi give Naruto a wink and a small smile in return, before assuming her emotionless face once more. Ken simply stood back and watched as Naruto struggled with Hinote while laughing and joking with Tenshi, while she tried to keep a straight face. Ken couldn't help but smile as Naruto began to experience what it was like to be part of a family, something Ken didn't.

"_You asked for me Tou-san?" Ken called as she entered her father's study._

"_Yes daughter. It seems that Namikaze Minato has fallen," Kenpachi replied, his tone even._

_The young Ken's eyes widened in shock and sadness. She was only a toddler when Minato saved her clan and her father. Her father's brother, Zaraki, tried to stage a coup and assume leadership of the clan, as he felt the Ikazuchi did not need the support of the Daimyo and refused to continue sharing techniques with Kumogakure. Her father knew that asking for Kumo's help would only weaken their position in Kumo as they would be indebted to Kumogakure and would likely be forced to join the Hidden Village, rather than remain a Hidden Clan. Therefore, Kenpachi sent calls for aid to other Hidden Villages in secret, hoping at least one of them would respond. Even Konoha was reluctant to send help, however Namikaze Minato, the newest Hokage, came personally and quelled the rebellion at its source in a pitched battle with one of the Ikazuchi's finest warriors. Zaraki fought well but was no match for the Kiroii Senkou. Minato's intervention prevented a feud that could have destroyed the clan and Kenpachi declared a Clan Treaty between the Ikazuchi and the Namikaze as thanks._

"_What will happen now father? Are there no more Namikaze?" Ken asked, remembering to keep her tone formal._

"_It seems that Namikaze-san has a son. He is the sole Namikaze remaining and as such, the Treaty remains intact. However, he is a newborn infant and so he cannot represent his clan at this time," Kenpachi explained. "It seems we must sign the Summoning Contract that Namikaze-san sent to us. As Clan Heir it falls to you to uphold our end of the Treaty, which means that your training shall be intensified as of today. As well as the Summoning Contract, I have written up an arranged marriage proposal to send to the reinstated Sandaime. The terms are that you and this 'Naruto' shall be wed upon both of you reaching the rank of Chunin."_

_Ken wanted to scream. She didn't even want to be a ninja! It wasn't fair! Now she was being told to bind herself to some infant she never even met, through both summoning AND marriage? She was only six years old for Kami's sake! She'd be entering her twenties when the brat hit puberty! Ken restrained herself from shouting out loud and simply nodded to her father, trying desperately to hold back her tears. Kenpachi said nothing more and dismissed her with a gesture. As soon as Ken was out of his office she ran all the way back to her own room and collapsed onto her bed, crying. It wasn't fair. She wanted to live her own life, not one that her 'family' forced her to. Sniffing loudly, Ken rolled over and stared at her ceiling. It might not be so bad, she thought to herself. Maybe this Naruto would be cute when he was older? Maybe... maybe she'd even grow to lo-_

Ken smiled fondly at Naruto as Team Namikaze and Team 7 headed to the Tower together. She truly adored Naruto now, after seeing the kind of person he'd grown to be in the face of unspeakable adversity. In a way she was reminded of herself when she saw him, but in him she saw herself... free. The only thing was... Ken didn't know how to tell him. To say to a young man that hadn't really known love 'You must marry me when you become Chunin' was awkward to say the least. Still, he was early into his career so Ken was comforted by the knowledge that she would have at least a year or so to tell him. Ken zoned back in just as Naruto was finishing his chat with his sensei. She resolved to stop thinking about the past and try to stay in the present more often lest she become too distant.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, what are you going to teach us when Sasuke and Sakura finish the Tree Climbing exercise?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"Hmm? Well maybe I'll test your elemental affinities and start you out on some basic jutsu depending on what they are," Kakashi replied absent-mindedly.

"I already know my affinities, Kaka-sensei," Naruto said, annoyed. "That's one of the first things Ten-chan made me do when we started my new training schedule... after reading a few dictionaries."

This grabbed Kakashi's attention.

"Oh? What is it then?... Wait, affinities? You have more than one?"

"Ten-chan gave me one of those chakra cards," Naruto answered proudly. "It turns out my affinities are Wind AND Lightning!"

"Impressive. Most ninja don't gain a second affinity until they're at least Chunin," Kakashi said.

Sasuke scowled at this. _'The dobe seems to be getting stronger by the day. I must know how he's getting so much power,'_ he thought sullenly. Sakura noticed Sasuke's frustration and felt herself begin to get annoyed as well. It wasn't fair that Naruto practically had FOUR teachers. They been Genin for almost two weeks now and Kakashi hadn't really taught them anything yet, besides doing D-ranks. Hell, sometimes when they'd finish, Naruto would just disappear in a puff of smoke, showing that they'd been working with a Kage Bushin all along. Sakura could only surmise that Naruto was receiving training while he sent a clone in his place. Suddenly she had an idea on how to go about cheering Sasuke up.

"Hey Naruto? I don't suppose you have some of those chakra cards left over?" she asked sweetly.

"Hmm? Yeah Ten-chan gave me a few to hold onto. Want to try one?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke and Sakura eagerly accepted the two pieces of paper Naruto pulled out from his pouch. However, after staring at them for about a minute, they realised they didn't know what to do with them. The gave Naruto annoyed looks as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly at his negligence.

"Oh yeah, you have to channel your chakra through them to get the card to react. If it burns up, then you have a fire affinity. If it gets wet, it's water. If it crumbles into dust then it's earth. If it splits then it's wind and if it crumples up like a crisp bag then it's lightning," Naruto explained.

Sasuke gave no outward reaction to indicate that he was listening. He simply channelled his chakra and watched as the card practically burst into flames. Sakura channelled her own chakra and was surprised when the card started to crumble away at the edges. Kakashi watched with interest as this occurred, noting both the affinities for future reference. He had hoped that Sasuke would share his lightning affinity as Kakashi had a rather large repertoire that he could have shared with the Uchiha scion.

"Well it seems Sasuke is a fire-type, which is usual for an Uchiha, and it appears to be very strong. Sakura on the other hand is an earth-type, which is not uncommon for Konoha shinobi but it isn't that strong yet which isn't surprising considering she's from a civilian family," he said.

"Why does Naruto have two uncommon affinities then?" Sakura complained loudly.

"Well some affinities could be hereditary, like people with chakra based bloodlines or children born into a ninja family, but Naruto's rare affinities also put him at a disadvantage," Kakashi replied encouragingly. "There are very few shinobi in Konoha with a Lightning affinity and the only other ninja with a wind affinity is Sarutobi Asuma."

"Well that would be true but Ten-chan and Ken-chan also have wind affinities which are part of their chakra bloodlines," Naruto added.

"I guess that means you'll have someone to teach you how to improve your affinities then Naruto? I myself am lightning natured so I could teach you more about using raiton jutsu," Kakashi replied.

As they discussed affinities and jutsu related to them, the group reached the Tower and headed up the stairs to the Hokage's office. They only had to wait a few minutes for a team of Chunin to finish their debriefing before being allowed inside to make their reports. As they went in, Naruto noticed one of the Chunin flipping a coin casually with one hand, using his thumb under his index finger to continually toss the coin into the air when it landed on his hand again. _'That could be a useful trick for my hand-eye coordination,'_ Naruto thought to himself. _'Plus it looks cool.'_ He closed the door behind him and faced the Sandaime as Kakashi began the report.

"Mission accomplished Hokage-sama. The client was impressed by the expedience of Team 7," he stated formally. "However he also included a commendation for Naruto, who saved his daughter's pet with creative use of the Kage Bushin and a chakra control exercise."

"Really? Well done Naruto-kun," Sarutobi said proudly. "I'm glad to see you using your training in the right way."

"Thanks Jiji-," Naruto began.

"Baka! Show Hokage-sama more respect!" Sakura interrupted angrily.

"Now, now, it's quite alright Haruno-san," Sarutobi said in a placating tone before turning his attention to Team Namikaze.

"Now then, Tsurara-san. How did your mission go?" he asked kindly.

"Mission completed Hokage-sama. There were no difficulties," Tenshi answered bluntly.

"I see. Well you are dismissed for now. I shall contact your team again when something comes up," Sarutobi replied. "For now you should get in touch with some of the jounins for additional training if you desire. I know for a fact that Ebisu is a talented instructor."

Tenshi nodded respectfully and left the room quietly, Ken and Hinote following her, Hinote giving Sarutobi a two-fingered salute as she left. Sarutobi smiled and shook his head slightly before turning back to Kakashi.

"Well then Team 7, are you willing to take another mission?" he asked.

"I must decline Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied quickly. "I've decided to teach Sasuke and Sakura the Tree Climbing exercise today. Naruto was kind enough to help me determine their chakra affinity so I'm going to try and teach them some basic elemental jutsu once they've got the hang of it."

Sarutobi nodded and dismissed them, which led to Naruto wandering down the street by himself as Kakashi took the rest of Team 7 to the training ground. Kakashi had told Naruto that he could go home or do his own kind of training, to which Naruto agreed. Unfortunately Naruto knew that Tenshi, Hinote and Ken were busy back at the apartment complex and he didn't know what kind of training he should do by himself.

As he wandered, Naruto felt the glares of some of the older population on him once again and he quickened his pace a little. As he walked he was suddenly struck on the back of the head by something. Naruto cursed and rubbed the back of his skull as he looked behind him. A little boy with a slingshot was laughing at him while his mother smirked by his side. Naruto felt anger welling up inside of him as he picked up the small stone that hit him. He glared at the object as he continued on his way, trying to ignore the laughter that had spread to the other people. Naruto looked back at the small stone and noticed that it had actually drawn blood, as one of the sides had a small splattering of red on it. Feeling his scalp once more, Naruto decided that it wasn't bad and ignored it. _'The next one who tries something like that will be eating the fucking rock when I'm through,' _Naruto thought furiously. _'I'm tired of being treated like shit.' _As he thought this Naruto could have sworn he heard menacing laughter at the edge of his hearing, however when he looked around he couldn't see anyone else. Naruto shrugged to himself and continued his walk, deciding that he'd head to one of the training grounds and trying to think of what to do from there.

It took Naruto around fifteen minutes to reach one of the numerous training grounds of Konoha, only to see another team of genin training with their sensei. However, his eyes were immediately drawn to one of the genin and the and the jounin. Both were wearing identical, forest green, skintight, spandex bodysuits and orange legwarmers. They were also engaged in taijutsu practice that exposed more than Naruto ever wanted to see from others of his gender.

_Inside Naruto's mind..._

"_Naruto-Alpha! Our physical form has seen what cannot be unseen!" A mini representation of Naruto squealed in a chibi voice._

_The other Naruto representation looked up grimly, his eyes shining with determination._

"_Shut. Down. EVERYTHING."_

_Back outside..._

Naruto blinked once. Twice. Then collapsed, twitching. His sudden fall however, had alerted the team to his presence and the jounin began to make his way over. Naruto awoke suddenly just as the man reached him, causing Naruto to look up... and immediately scream like a little girl. The kunoichi still in the training field laughed aloud at his reaction while the non-spandex boy simply frowned. Naruto couldn't help but scream when a green-clad man with bugs attacking his face leaned over him, it was simply that disturbing. At least he thought they were bugs... hairy caterpillars to be precise. However, on closer inspection he realised that they were in fact eyebrows. The largest eyebrows he had ever seen on man or beast. Before Naruto could say anything to explain his reaction, the jounin opened his mouth, revealing a perfect set of twenty-eight teeth that were dazzlingly white, and spoke.

"Yosh! Your Flames of Youth must burn brightly indeed to provoke such an emotional response from meeting the Green Beast of Konoha! I am Maito Gai!" Gai exclaimed loudly.

Naruto was speechless for several seconds as he attempted to understand what was happening, and to understand how the man thought that it wasn't _his appearance_ that was 'provocative'.

"I-I'm Uzumaki N-Naruto..." he eventually stammered. "Nice to m-meet you Gai-san..."

"Ah yes! Naruto-kun! I have heard of you from Umino-san! You are indeed as youthful as he claims!" Gai replied enthusiastically.

"Iruka-sensei said that about me?" Naruto asked, overcoming his shock at the man's bizarre appearance.

"Hai! Now then Naruto-kun! What can I and my youthful young Genin do for you today?" Gai's volume never once dropped below 80 decibels as he said this.

"Uuuh, I came here to train by myself... I guess I'll just-," Naruto began.

"YES! Your Flames of Youth do indeed shine brightly today! To want to train yourself and become stronger, even without tutelage, is a noble endeavour! However, if you do not mind my asking, where are your team-mates and sensei?" Gai interrupted.

"Um, I'm ahead of my team-mates in chakra control so Kakashi-sensei is teaching them the Tree Climbing exercise, while I guess I wanted to practice my kenjutsu..." Naruto trailed off uncertainly.

"YOSH! Then Team 9 shall help you in your quest to stoke your Flames of YOUTH!" Gai practically shouted. "TenTen! This young man requires your assistance!"

The kunoichi of the team made her way over and Naruto took the time to take in her appearance. She was rather plain looking, in a cute way. Her long-ish light brown hair was done up into two tight buns on top of her head and she wore a sleeveless pink Chinese-style shirt. She wore her hitae-ite on her forehead, which her bangs hung over. She also had plain shinobi sandals and navy blue ninja pants, with bandages wrapped around her ankles. The biggest thing Naruto noticed about her however, was the katana she held in her right hand.

"Hey there Uzumaki," TenTen said amicably. "I'm Heikisho TenTen."

"Call me Naruto," said the genin in question, offering his hand which she shook. Giving her katana a meaningful look he added. "Gai-san here says you can help me with my kenjutsu?"

TenTen eyed Naruto appraisingly. He was a little short, but his unruly blonde hair made up for it. He had a tanned complexion and interesting lines on each of his cheeks almost like whiskers, however TenTen could see the indentations they made on his face. He was wearing a long-sleeved blue top and black shinobi pants, with black boots on his feet. His hitae-ite was tied loosely around his neck and he wore a plain white trench coat over it all, making him look almost like a miniature Yondaime. Overall his look suited him, however TenTen's eyes narrowed when she noticed the lack of weapon on his person.

"Well? Where's your weapon?" she asked bluntly.

"Oh right! Stand back please," Naruto said as he pulled Claimh Solais from his waistband.

TenTen looked at him like he was insane.

"A hilt? That's all?"

"This is no ordinary weapon TenTen-san. Observe!" Naruto exclaimed as he channelled his chakra.

Of all the things that could have happened, TenTen did not expect a six-foot long, one and a half foot wide blade of crystal to suddenly emerge at the end of Naruto's hilt, crashing into the ground with a large thud, causing chunks of dirt to be uprooted. As she watched, Naruto easily lifted the blade and rested it on his shoulder, waiting for her response. TenTen, however, was in a world of her own. She gazed at the unique blade with hearts for eyes. The width of it, the sheer length, the way the middle of the blade widened into two triangular points before tapering back down and forming a curved tip. The appearance of the blade had also brought forth a guard at its base which attached to the hilt. It was a golden bronze colour, with what appeared to be a ruby set into the middle of it, and was shaped almost like a tongue of flame. Some form of seals were etched along the crystal surface of the blade on either side in a line that ended near the middle. Overall, it was one of the most beautiful weapons she had ever seen.

"W-Where did you get THAT!" TenTen nearly squealed.

"This is Claimh Solais, the legendary Sword of Light from the Tsurara Clan, and it was a gift to me from a dear friend," Naruto replied in a guarded tone.

"Can I hold it?" TenTen asked almost immediately after Naruto finished his sentence.

"Sorry TenTen-san, but Claimh Solais will only accept me as its wielder. I don't know what it would do to you if I handed it over," Naruto replied truthfully.

TenTen looked downcast at this, but perked up when she realised she could still see it in action. Wordlessly, she raised her katana in a defensive stance, challenging Naruto. Gai took this time to retreat to a safer distance as Naruto experimentally twirled Claimh Solais diagonally around his body, before stopping the blade when it was parallel to the ground. Naruto's stance was... unusual, even for zanbatou wielders. His knees were bent slightly and he was hunched over slightly, staring at TenTen down his left shoulder, Claimh Solais' blade pointing behind him. With a cry he charged towards her shoulder first and swung much faster than his stance implied he would be able to, which surprised TenTen but not enough to prevent her from blocking his obvious attack.

"First tip Naruto. Don't telegraph your attacks so much!" TenTen had to shout as she tried to swipe at his leg, only for him to block by twisting his wrists around, redirecting his crystal blade into its path.

TenTen grinned at his novice mistake and reached out with one of her hands, placing it on the pommel of Claimh Solais. With a none to gentle shove, she forced Naruto to drive the blade into the ground before delivering a swift kick into his stomach, knocking him back several feet. Naruto was now weaponless as TenTen readjusted her grip on her katana with both hands. Naruto coughed, only once, to show that he had been slightly winded by her sudden attack before getting off the ground, seemingly unaffected.

"Oh Ten~Ten," Naruto sang innocently.

Put on edge by his tone TenTen could only reply, "What?"

"Hope you have sunglasses!"

Naruto seemed to concentrate for a second before TenTen actually _felt_ Naruto's chakra pulse. As soon as it did Claimh Solais lit up like a second sun, blinding everyone that was looking in it direction. Everyone aside from Naruto, who only saw a bright glow from the blade. He grinned at this, thanking Tenshi for describing some of Claimh Solais' abilities to him. This ability was one of the reasons it was nicknamed the 'Sword of Light', being that if Claimh Solais was ever separated from its wielder, it could glow brightly to show where it was. Anyone else would see it as an intensely blinding glare, giving the wielder the opportunity to retrieve it. Naruto casually walked over and pulled Claimh Solais out of the ground, causing the blade to dim immediately and quickly until it was back to its normal, glittering crystal self.

"B-Bastard!" TenTen growled as she rubbed her eyes, trying to rid herself of the sunspots.

Naruto tensed as TenTen recovered far quicker than he had expected (due to her repeated exposure to Gai and Lee's smiles) and rushed in much more aggressively than before. Her first horizontal sweep was much stronger and sent Naruto skidding when he blocked with Claimh Solais. The force of the clash kicked up some dust, which TenTen rushed through causing Naruto to panic slightly as he clumsily blocked her attack once more. However, TenTen showed just how much more experienced she was at kenjutsu by using his block as leverage to spin her entire body over his shoulder, kicking him in his upper back as she flipped round, trying to slash at his exposed back while in mid-air and upside down. Naruto stumbled forward this time, turning barely in time to block the slash. TenTen continued her skill-full onslaught vigorously, slashing at Naruto, only to have him block, leaving him exposed to yet another attack, which forced him to block again leading to a cycle that gave him no chance to counter attack. TenTen's next slash was stronger, Naruto's grip on Claimh Solais weakening as a result, but as TenTen pushed her attack into his guard her blade slid across Claimh Solais, pushing Naruto back and giving him much needed breathing room.

"Try this on for size then!" he exclaimed.

Naruto reversed his grip on his blade and began spinning Claimh Solais around his body rapidly, the blade becoming a glittering circular blur as it sped to unbelievable proportions, causing TenTen's eyes to widen in shock. _'That blade is huge! How the hell can he spin it that fast?' _she thought with mild concern. Naruto advanced on her position, maintaining his defensive spinning. TenTen back-pedalled furiously as Naruto pushed his advantage, the spar becoming more and more dangerous. Gai stood by, watching carefully in case he needed to intervene. TenTen shifted her torso as quickly as she could, avoiding Naruto's rapid slashes while still running backwards. However she still held the advantage of knowing the terrain more than Naruto did. Her back hit one of the short training posts and she rolled backwards onto it. While on her upper back she spun her body around, lashing out with a spinning kick to Naruto's head as Claimh Solais buried itself into the post, leaving him horribly vulnerable. Using her advantage as quickly as she could, TenTen grabbed the chain at the end of Claimh Solais' hilt and wrapped it around Naruto's arm, attaching the clasp to the chain itself once it had wrapped around his arm once. Naruto suddenly found himself unable to get Claimh Solais off of himself as TenTen crushed her foot into his face, sending him hurtling back while tearing his sword out of the post with him.

"You lose..."

Naruto gave a pained grunt as he noticed the tip of TenTen's katana resting lightly on his Adam's apple. Naruto panted heavily at the exertion of the lesson turned sparring match before managing a sigh. Before long though he had recovered and was grinning while holding his hand out to TenTen, who took it and helped him to his feet. Unlatching Claimh Solias from his arm, Naruto pulled his chakra back out of the blade, causing it to disappear once more, leaving a plain hilt in its place which he latched to his waistband again.

"That was a great match TenTen-san. You're really strong!" Naruto exclaimed cheerfully.

"I have to admit Naruto, you're not too bad for a beginner yourself. Seriously though, how in Kami's name were you able to swing that thing so fast? It looked more like a buzz saw than a sword!" TenTen replied.

"Well since I'm its wielder, Claimh Solias weighs virtually nothing. It gives me a much faster stroke and still has all its force behind it, but since its so easy for my to swing around I need to be careful not to overswing or I leave myself open like you saw," Naruto answered, grinning.

TenTen was impressed by the abilities of the legendary blade, wishing she'd brought a higher quality katana with her so she wouldn't have to hold back lest she break it. Naruto went back over the match as well, knowing that TenTen went easy on him since he was a novice at kenjutsu, while trying to think of ways to improve his defence. He was so deep in thought that he (thankfully) missed Gai and Lee's exuberant shouts about his Flames of Youth, which quickly devolved into another hugging session between the two green weirdos.

After another hour of socializing and training with Team Gai, Naruto decided it was time to head home and check on Ken and the others. Hopefully they'd be done soon with their work on the apartments. When Ken, Tenshi and Hinote had noticed that no one else lived on Naruto's floor they decided to expand his closet-sized apartment by knocking down the adjoining walls so that they could all live in the one apartment. Naruto reached his home faster than usual due to his excitement at having people, _friends_ even, to live with.

"_Ken-chan... I-I'm sorry..."_

"_I know... Tou-san."_

"_Step away Ken. By the traditions of the Ikazuchi clan with your father's death your aunt will assume position as Clan Head. As such, it is her decision that are to be banished forthwith from the Ikazuchi. You are no longer one of us. You will leave this place... and never return."_

"_I understand. Yachiru-obasan never did like that Namikaze-sama interfered with her husband's little coup. Know however that by aligning yourselves with Kumogakure, you are selling our independent family into servitude. We were proud... _**strong... **_but now, you are simply tools."_

_Ken decided at that point that she would keep true to the ideals of the true Ikazuchi. As she stood up from kneeling beside her father's body, tears streaming down her face without shame, she vowed to restore what her Aunt had corrupted with her delusions of power. The clansmen around her watched warily as Ken looked at them... with pity. Vindictive though Yachiru was, she was no fool. It would take far too many of the clan to take down Ken, simply because she was still one of two children born in her generation, now a young woman and in prime health while the rest of the clan were older... weaker... and Samui was not yet strong enough to defeat her. Ken did not waste words with goodbyes. She took what belongings she could seal into some scrolls and left swiftly and silently._

_She was now eighteen years old and had reached the strength of an average Kumo jounin, as well as maturing into a beautiful young woman. Now though, she spent her time travelling the nation, offering her skills for coin to line her pockets. The summoning seal on her shoulder however, was a continual reminder of her pact with the Namikaze. With Naruto. Someday soon he may call on her. When that day would come, she would be an ambassador, not for the traitors who joined with Kumogakure... but for the Ikazuchi. She would have to live with him, stay in Konoha and build a strong and lasting bond with him. With her father gone there was no way for her to end the marriage contract from her clan's side, the rest of them having broken their oath of friendship to the Namikaze._

"_I will return someday. I'll become stronger, smarter, faster. I will tear down the walls of ignorance my clan has built. We will reclaim our hidden heritage and be independent once more."_

_Ken stayed at an inn for the night, ignoring the other patrons and keeping to herself. She left later that very night._

"_Oh? There's another clan that signed the contract with Namikaze-sama?"_

Naruto thundered up the staircase to his apartment and quickly unlocked the door. As he stepped inside he was greeted with cheers as Ken walked over to show him around. His apartment had expanded by a multiple of at least ten. Tenshi and Hinote were there also, standing beneath a banner hanging from the ceiling. Naruto was overcome by the bold **'Welcome Home Naruto'** and fought back tears of happiness. The weather outside darkened and iron grey clouds rolled over Konoha but it did not matter to him. Naruto and his three closest friends settled down in their new home, playing cards and eating and celebrating their togetherness. Lightning forked across the black sky but there was no thunder.

There was only the sound of Family.

* * *

**Chapter 4 complete. In this chapter I've tried to expand on Ikazuchi Ken's background and how she came to be bonded with Naruto. Yes, her bloodline is one of the "special 5" from the 3rd Shippudden Movie, however we've only really seen 1 technique from it so I'll be making them up as I go along. The chakra bloodline is a merging of wind and lightning chakra. Also, as you noticed, the italic areas are parts of Ken's past in chronological order, leading up to her meeting with Naruto. I know it's fragmented but I made up the most important parts otherwise the chapter would be too long and jump between them too much and become too confusing, using the word too too much. Lol.**

**Yes her Father, Uncle and Aunt are based on Zaraki Kenpachi and Yachiru from Bleach but only by name.**

**The next chapter will begin the mission to Wave and hopefully shed some light on one of my other OC's history.**

**Please send me any reviews, thoughts, comments or suggestions and I'll hopefully have chapter 5 done before the end of the Easter Holidays.**

**Ranton: Raiden no Jutsu (Storm Release: Thunder and Lightning)**

**Ration: Shur Rai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Strike)**


	5. Chapter 5: Power of the Wind Wave

**He Is My Master: Elemental Summoner Naruto!**

**Ahoy!**

**As was requested I have set up a poll for Naruto's Significant Other/s on my profile and vaguely updated some info on it. Anyway, this chapter will start off the Wave Mission story arc and you'll get some more clues as to what Naruto's super jutsu is going to be. If I feel like it I'll actually have it revealed near the end of the chapter. The Wave Arc will bleed through to the next chapter I post and I have another poll for you to decide on. Fem-Haku and Zabuza, live or die? (Haku will NOT be with Naruto if she lives) Also from here on out the language will be getting stronger, particularly from Naruto as Hinote rubs off on him. If you don't like it I'm sorry but I have a plan for it.**

**Any who have read this fic before will notice that I've modified the Prologue to closer reflect the manga, as well as to clear up some continuity issues. Hopefully you'll still enjoy it. Finally I'll cover another of the OC's backgrounds and bloodlines.**

**And now for the tally of votes from the poll so far:**

**Naruto/Tayuya = 3**

**Naruto/Hinata = 2**

**Naruto/OC = 1**

**Naruto/Tayuya/OC = 4**

**Naruto/Tayuya/Hinata = 2**

**Naruto/Hinata/OC = 2**

**Naruto/Hinata/Tayuya/OC = 4**

***A reviewer has asked me to consider Naruto/All 3 OC's. Please add this pairing into your considerations when voting.**

**Ikuzei!**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Power of the Wind Wave**

"Ne, Kaka-sensei! When will we be doing a C-ranked mission?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Kakashi seemed to ponder his question. After Sakura and Sasuke had been able to perform the Tree Climbing exercise to his satisfaction he'd put all three of his students to the test by having them spar on a vertical surface for as long as they could. Sakura was still the first to drop out, either due to being outclassed in taijutsu or due to chakra exhaustion, but she was making progress none the less. Unfortunately she would seem to forget her training every time Sasuke paid even the slightest bit of attention to her, even if it was to simply scoff at how far behind she was. Team 7's teamwork still needed a lot of work and Kakashi was having trouble trying to think of a way to break Sasuke of his arrogance and lone-wolf attitude. _'Wait a minute...' _Kakashi thought suddenly.

"You know Naruto, I think you're right. You three have been working pretty hard, I think you deserve to try a higher ranked mission," he replied cheerfully. _'Maybe seeing that it's not quite as easy as they think will motivate them to work more closely.'_

"Yeah!" Naruto cheered. "Maybe we can get Team Namikaze to join us as well, eh?"

Kakashi had recently been informed of the nature of Naruto's relationship with the three mysterious girls he now lived with. He'd been shocked at first that the young women were loyal to Naruto before the village but after hearing how each of their clans owed Minato in some way he began to understand. He was also rather impressed by how strong the girls were, all three of them bordering on jounin level but only having the rank of Chunin. From what Naruto had boasted during the team training sessions they'd also been helping him learn a myriad of jutsu from the lightning and wind elements, which had upset Sasuke a little however Kakashi had soothed his ego by teaching him a new fire jutsu.

"I'd rather they stay at the village to do other missions Naruto. C-Ranks have very little risk involved, usually just protection from bandits or wild animals and even then that is a rare thing," Kakashi answered. "The chance of engaging enemy ninja is very slim."

Naruto seemed disappointed by this and so did Sasuke, however Sakura looked relieved. To help her catch up to her team-mates level of physical fitness Kakashi had been forced to cash in one of his many favours from Gai he had from winning their 'contests'. With it, he had acquired a set of training weights for Sakura, who had almost become violent at the prospect of wearing them. Not to be outdone at being helpful, Naruto was the one who encouraged her by telling her that Sasuke liked strong kunoichi. Sakura had immediately agreed to the weights and was forced to change her outfit as a result, for the better in Kakashi's opinion. Sakura now wore a short sleeved pink t-shirt and long, baggy shinobi pants that were blood red in colour. She also wore black leather gloves to help protect her hands during taijutsu practice and had also decided of her own volition to buy herself a pair of tonfa which were holstered to her waist. Finally she had kept her normal blue shinobi sandals with her weights out of sight around her shins. Sakura was adapting to the weights but she seemed anxious about leaving the village while she wasn't at her peak. Nonetheless Kakashi felt that a C-Rank would be a good learning experience.

Team 7 entered the Hokage's Office where Sarutobi Hiruzen was reclined in his chair behind the large oak desk. He looked up as they entered and smiled upon seeing Naruto, who smiled back. Hiruzen was always slightly saddened whenever Naruto would give him his usual wider than normal grins, which were used to help the poor boy hide the true sadness he felt, but recently his smiles were becoming less pronounced but much more genuine.

"Ah Kakashi, what can I do for you today?" Sarutobi asked politely.

"Hokage-sama. My students and I feel that they're ready to try a C-ranked mission," Kakashi replied respectfully.

"Hmm... Well your team has done quite a few D-ranked missions. However I'm reluctant to let them out of the village so early into their careers. There are some more challenging D-ranks here that-," Sarutobi tried to say before he was interrupted.

"No, no, no, hell no!" Naruto shouted at the Hokage. "Jiji these bullshit missions suck ass; picking up trash, babysitting, what the hell? Clearing out bandit camps, protecting people, sign me up for that stuff!"

Despite the embarrassed look on Kakashi's face, Sasuke and Sakura pledged silent support to their loud, though becoming quieter (and ruder), blonde team-mate as they too were sick of the glorified chores they were forced to run.

Iruka, who was assisting the Hokage with mission assignments, yelled at him, "Naruto! You're just a rookie genin barely into your career as a ninja, you have to do D-ranked missions until you build enough experience to go higher on the ranking chart."

"What, you think I'll be an S-Rank ninja by catching a cat or babysitting some kid or painting a fucking fence?" Naruto shot back angrily, Hinote's rude language rubbing off on him. "These 'missions' should be done by Academy Students as practical exercises in protection, retrieval and village service. Not by qualified Genin!"

"Very well, I'll allow for a C-rank. Your mission will be to guard the client as he makes his way back to Wave Country," Sarutobi stated quickly to avoid the ensuing shitstorm that Iruka was sure to conjure up. "You may enter now!"

Team 7 turned around to meet their client. Naruto found himself horribly disappointed. The client was a tall but old man with grey hair wearing bland looking civilian clothes and glasses while chugging on a bottle of sake. He looked at Team 7 with something akin to disdain before making his thoughts known.

"I pay for a C-rank and I get a bunch of snot-nosed kids? The girl looks like she had an accident in a bubblegum factory and King Emo looks ready to start slashing his wrists right now! Then there's the blonde midget... he doesn't look too bad but I doubt he'll ever get on the rides at Kiddy Land."

"Fuck you you old drunk!" Naruto shouted while suppressing his laughter as much as he could at Sasuke's and Sakura's descriptions. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and if you want our protection you'll start showing some respect!"

"I'll show you respect when you stop being a munchkin you little brat! I'm Tazuna, master architect, and you're to escort me back to Wave and protect me until I finish construction of a bridge," their client, Tazuna, shot back.

"I'll show you munchkin you drunk bastard!" Naruto exclaimed, enraged.

"Now, now Naruto. It's bad for business to threaten the client. Anyway, Tazuna-san, I assure you that my team and I are more than adequate for a C-rank mission. Even if we encounter something beyond the abilities of my students, I am an elite jounin," Kakashi assured.

"Irrelevant. I'm still shoving that sake bottle up his fucking ass..."

"Whatever. Meet up at the Main Gate and pack for a long mission," Kakashi said, rolling his eyes.

**At the Gate...**

"Bastard drunk not only insults us, but now he's late for his own escort!" Naruto yelled. "Where the hell's Kakahsi as well!"

"Naruto will you shut up already!" Sakura screeched, having had enough of his exclamations.

Naruto glared at her, a tiny amount of the Kyuubi's chakra leaking through the seal due to his heightened emotions which added to the potency of his look. Sakura was cowed effectively and Naruto found himself calming down as well, becoming annoyed rather than outraged. When he'd gone home to pack he'd only found Hinote as Ken and Tenshi were out either training or on business. He'd spent a good five minutes venting his feelings to her, which she agreed with and added some colourful comments that cheered Naruto up. She'd also provided him with a pair of storage scrolls that he could store his gear in but warned him to look after them as she wouldn't make him any more. Naruto had agreed and also decided to look up Fuuinjutsu when he got back. As it was, waiting around at the gate was becoming tiresome by the minute.

"Yo!"

Naruto turned and spied Kakashi and Tazuna approaching with no small amount of relief.

"Finally! We've been waiting for over thirty minutes!" Naruto shouted to them, but was promptly ignored.

After a minute for Kakashi to inspect their gear, Team 7 was out of the gates and on their way. Naruto initially thought it would be great to see what it was like outside of the village but quickly became bored. There was nothing but _trees_... It was only after two hours of walking in silence (Sakura's inane babbling in Sasuke's ear was excluded) that something interesting happened.

"Oi Kaka-sensei... what's that?" Naruto asked suddenly, pointing ahead.

"It's... a puddle Naruto," Kakashi answered.

"Okay... now why's it there?" Naruto asked again.

"Well when it rains..." Kakashi began, before realising what Naruto meant.

"Exactly. It hasn't rained for days and there's no cover from the sun on the road. It's so obvious that-," Naruto began.

Before he could finish complaining there was a loud swishing sound and Kakashi was bound by a large serrated chain. The puddle they were looking at dissolved into nothingness and Naruto cursed. _'Genjutsu! Why didn't I think of that? Of course it was obvious, it was __**too**__ obvious!'_ he thought to himself. Everyone looked to the source of the chain and saw two masked men wearing slashed Kiri headbands, indicating that they were nuke-nin from Kirigakure. Both were wearing rebreather masks that covered most of their faces and ragged dark cloaks that obscured their bodies except for a vicious looking clawed gauntlet. The two wore a single gauntlet on their left and right arms respectively, connected by the bladed chain that was now wrapped around Kakashi.

"One down..." one of the nuke-nin growled in a gruff voice.

"... Four to go," the other finished.

With no hesitation they both pulled with their gauntlet hands, tightening the chain around Kakashi hard enough to rip the man to shreds. Sakura screamed at the sudden demise of their sensei while Naruto and Sasuke tensed. With Kakashi disposed of the two ninja rushed towards Tazuna, leading with their claws in a threatening manner. Sakura gulped and jumped between Tazuna and the missing ninja, holding a kunai in her trembling hands, her tonfa being no match against the decidedly sharp looking claws.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun! Back me up!" Sakura managed to cry.

Naruto snapped out of his stupor with a speed that defied reason before he unsheathed Claimh Solais from his waist, the blade bursting into existence as he swung it in a downwards arc towards the nuke-nin. Sasuke, not to be outdone, rushed towards Sakura's position while readying a kunai and shuriken in each hand. With a shout he jumped into the air and threw. The kunai left his hand with deadly precision and slammed into the hole of one of the shuriken links in the bladed chain, his shuriken following after and pinning the kunai to the ground through the hole at the end of the grip. Naruto smirked at Sasuke's manoeuvre, silently thanking the Uchiha for temporarily immobilizing his enemies as he completed his downwards swing. Claimh Solias' blade glowed brilliantly, glittering as it reached the ground.

"Eat this! _**Hikari no Yaiba**__!_" Naruto yelled.

As soon as his crystal blade struck the ground a curved wave of light shot forward, an extension of his swing, and carved through the ground towards the Kiri nin. They simply glanced at Naruto before the chain that connected them disconnected from their gauntlets and they jumped apart. One of them changed course and dashed towards Naruto while the other headed for Sasuke at speed. Sakura frowned and began to pepper them both with kunai and shuriken that they dodged seemingly effortlessly. Naruto grimaced and swung Claimh Solais at his opponent, meeting his clawed hand with a resonating clang. The two pushed against each other, trying to overpower their opponent.

"Nice blade gaki. I'll be sure to pry it from your dead hands," the Kiri nin said.

"Suck my fat one you bed wetter!" Naruto retorted. "You know what happens to someone who's struck by lightning? The same thing happens to everything else, _**Raiton: Shu Rai no jutsu!**_"

The Kiri-nin's eyes widened in horror as Claimh Solais became violently electrified, arcs of electricity crawling along the blade. Naruto remembered Ken's warning about trying to channel a raiton jutsu through his sword. Fortunately for him he also remembered one important fact: _electricity flowed along the path of least resistance_. The nuke-nin had no chance as the electricity from Naruto's jutsu flowed from Claimh Solais and right into his gauntlet. What happened next would haunt Naruto for years to come.

The Kiri-nin screamed in agony as he was brutally electrocuted, his skin cracking and burning as he was essentially cooked alive, his hair catching fire, withering and falling out rapidly. Blood began dripping from his rebreather mask as he inadvertently bit off his own tongue. Smoke rose from his body as he twitched and thrashed uncontrollably, muscles jumping in response to the electric current. To Naruto, the man's death throes lasted an eternity when in reality it only lasted a few seconds. With a final groan the Kiri nin fell backwards and hit the ground, unmoving, as smoke continued to rise from his burned corpse. The death of Naruto's opponent caught everyone's attention and the other nin let out a bellow of rage.

"BROTHER! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Sasuke grimaced as the nuke-nin kicked him away and ran at Naruto faster than Sasuke had seen him move before. He was moving so erratically that Sakura was unable to hit him with any of her thrown weapons and she was forced to stop unless she hit Naruto. Said Genin was still staring at the cadaver of his previous opponent, his mind continually replaying the last moments of the man's life. It was over in a second.

"Good work Naruto. I'll take it from here."

Naruto looked up, unseeing.

"Kakashi... sensei?"

The formerly deceased jounin gave Naruto an eye-smile, the other Kiri-nin hunched over Kakashi's fist that was implanted in his gut. Naruto simply stared blankly, until the smell of cooked flesh hit him and he hunched over. Naruto vomited twice, wrapping his arms around his stomach, trembling. After he had emptied his stomach he looked at his hands, hands which had taken the life of another, and nearly had to throw up again. Was he a killer now? A monster? Echoes of curses and insults from the villagers of Konoha swam through his mind, darkening his thoughts as he sunk slowly into a cycle of self-doubt and depression.

"Naruto."

Kakashi's voice penetrated the shroud of Naruto's thoughts like a beam of light and he found himself looking into his sensei's only visible eye.

"You did your job. You protected Tazuna from an enemy that would have killed you, him and Team 7 without remorse. Don't think badly of yourself for doing what you had to do," Kakashi said softly.

"I-I knew that shinobi had to k-kill... I didn't know it was so-... I didn't know..." Naruto mumbled.

Kakashi signed inwardly. He had created a kage bushin to escort their prisoner into the woods at the side of the road for the time being. _'This mission clearly isn't a C-Rank...'_ he thought to himself. Tazuna lied about the mission parameters. His dishonesty had robbed Naruto of his innocence far too early. Kakashi turned to their client, who was staring at the dead nuke-nin with a pale face. Tazuna trembled slightly but nowhere near as much as a person would if they were new to death.

"Tazuna... care to explain why you have ninja after you?" Kakashi asked, his voice as hard and cold as steel.

"W-What do you mean?" Tazuna replied.

"Cut the bullshit. Those ninja were after you. After I used a _kawarimi_ to escape their chain they immediately went after you... my clone has just reported that they also had a photo of you," Kakashi said coldly. "Why would missing ninja be interested in a bridge builder?"

Tazuna gulped as Kakashi began leaking killer intent subtly.

"Alright... I'll tell you," Tazuna said after what seemed like an age. "There's a very dangerous man after my life. He has a short shadow but a long reach... his name is Gato."

"Gato of Gato Shipping Industries?" Kakashi asked, surprised.

"The very same. About three months ago Gato came to Wave and everyone was happy, he brought business and new jobs," Tazuna explained. "But soon we realised that he had less than pure intentions. He bought out our entire shipping industry and because of it, he had sole access to our only source of income. He squeezed the life out of Wave, pushing our taxes up and hiring mercenaries to intimidate us into submission while he began using our ships to traffic illegal goods, drugs, weapons... slaves."

"So how are you involv- the bridge," Kakashi breathed, cursing in his mind.

"Exactly. The bridge I'm building would connect us to the mainland and would break Gato's hold over us, we'd have another way to trade and could start making money again," Tazuna replied. "So Gato hired these missing ninja to kill me, which is why I hired protection from Konoha."

"But you only paid for a C-Rank mission, which would only grant you adequate protection from the occasional bandit or wild animal. My team isn't experienced enough to handle this level of escort," Kakashi shot back.

"I know and I'm sorry for lying about the mission... please understand, Wave is completely poor. Even our Daimyo has no money! It took our entire village combined to save up enough to pay for this mission, there's no way we could afford a B-rank!" Tazuna pleaded. "We have nothing left, most families are starving trying to feed their children, others have to live on the streets! Pickpockets are everywhere but they have no one to steal from because no has anything!"

Naruto twitched upon hearing that but it went unnoticed.

"My sympathies are with you Tazuna-san but I cannot allow my Genin to continue with this mission, the parameters are bordering an A-Rank assignment," Kakashi said sadly. "We have no choice but to end this mission and return to Konoha."

"No."

Everyone turned to look at Naruto who was staring at his feet, his spiky blonde hair shadowing his eyes. His hands were clenched so hard that blood was beginning to seep through his fingers. Naruto raised his head and looked Kakashi straight in the eye. A single black eye met blood red eyes with slit pupils.

"We can't leave Tazuna, not after what we've heard. If we turned away now we'd be no better than Gato, letting the people of Wave suffer just because it suits us," Naruto growled. "We must continue."

Sasuke decided to jump in.

"Hn. I agree with the dobe," he said smugly. "We were enough to handle these two, we can overcome whatever Gato throws at us."

_'Not to mention I'll be able to test my strength against stronger opponents,'_ Sasuke thought arrogantly, ignoring the fact that he hadn't even defeated the ninja that attacked him.

"Those were Chunin-level missing ninja from Kiri. Known as the 'Demon Brothers', but they underestimated you. The next enemies we face will more than likely be Jounin-level if not higher," Kakashi argued.

"We can handle it," Sasuke retorted.

"I-I agree Kakashi-sensei," Sakura added.

Kakashi signed outwardly but on the inside he was proud. His students were truly living up to the standard of Konoha shinobi. Tazuna was in tears at this point, overcome by the fact that they were still willing to continue despite being lied to.

"Well Tazuna-san, it looks like we'll be continuing after all," Kakashi said.

"Thank you. All of you," Tazuna declared, tears streaming down his face. "Wave will repay you, you have my word."

It wasn't long after this that Team 7 and Tazuna reached the waterfront where a man in a row-boat was waiting for them. They all clambered in with room to spare and the boat quietly paddled off, heading for the opposite bank a kilometre away. Naruto looked around as they sailed through the thickening mists and gently churning waters that gave Nami no Kuni its name. Suddenly something caught his vision, appearing in the corner of his eye. As he turned to look at it, Naruto had to force down the urge to shout in surprise. They were sailing next to the bridge that Tazuna was building. It was enormous and Naruto couldn't help but be deeply impressed by it's architecture.

"That's right gaki. That's my bridge," Tazuna whispered.

"Amazing..." Was all Naruto could breath back.

"Quiet. We can't risk being discovered. Why do you think we're rowing back instead of using the motor?" the ferryman hissed from the back.

Silence descended upon the group once more. It was another ten minutes before they reached the shore of Wave and disembarked from the boat, the ferryman quickly rowing away and out of sight. Kakashi had his Genin do a quick inventory check to ensure that they were prepared for anything that may happen before they continued. According to Tazuna, his house was near the woods and a large lake about an hour's walk from the shore. Unfortunately it would be several hours before they made it, and not all in one piece.

"This mist is so thick," Sakura commented in a hushed tone. "I can barely see twenty feet ahead of me."

Kakashi simply tensed, a feeling of unease creeping into his stomach. His instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong, and they'd never failed him before.

"Do you hear that?" Naruto whispered before he tensed.

Everyone jumped when Naruto suddenly drew a kunai and hurled it into a nearby bush. Sasuke, being the closest, was able to make out what sounded like a human voice just before the kunai entered the bushes and collided with something. Naruto quickly made his way into the bush to see what was there. To his surprise he found a snow white rabbit with his kunai imbedded in its head, which had killed the creature instantly.

"This rabbit... it's not the right colour for this time of year," Naruto declared.

"How would you know that Naruto-baka!" Sakura exclaimed loudly, causing the males to wince. "You just murdered that poor bunny!"

"You learn about these things when you're forced to hunt for your next meal," Naruto stated coldly as he wrenched his kunai free and whipped the small amount of blood and gore off the end of it.

Sakura was about to retort when a whirring sound emanated from somewhere.

"GET DOWN!" Kakashi shouted.

Naruto turned and saw what looked like a giant circular saw flying towards him, having passed over his team and Tazuna. With a grimace Naruto pulled Claimh Solais from his belt once more and stabbed the formed blade into the ground, edge forward, before crouching behind it. With a great clang the saw collided with Naruto's blade and stopped dead. Naruto only had time to make out a giant sword of some sort of steel before an unknown shinobi-sandalled foot found its way into his face, sending him skidding back along the ground, dragging Claimh Solais with him.

"Naruto!" Kakashi exclaimed in surprise.

"Sharingan no Kakashi... the Copy Ninja. I see now why the Demon Brothers failed," the new presence said.

"Momochi Zabuza... Kirigakure no Kijin," Kakashi replied.

"Ah so you know of me, I'm flattered. Now hand over the old man and let me finish my job," Zabuza said darkly.

"Sorry but you'll have to put your plans on hold... permanently," Naruto replied as he got back to his feet.

"Hmph, you're tougher than I gave you credit for brat. But you're still just a snot-nosed brat not even worthy of being called ninja," Zabuza retorted derisively.

"That so? Well maybe you can tell that to those 'Demon Brothers' when you see them. I'm sure Meizu will be happy to hear that he got toasted by a 'civilian'," Naruto shot back, forcing down his nausea as he remembered the victim of his raiton jutsu.

"_You_ killed Meizu? And here I was thinking that Kakashi did all the work," Zabuza growled. "What's your name brat? You might just be worthy of being put in my Bingo Book... before I kill you."

"Uzumaki Naruto. As for killing me No-Brows, greater men than you have tried," Naruto answered, his eyes as hard as chips of ice. "Ne, Kakashi-sensei? Think we could use some backup?"

Kakashi blinked. "Well sure but-..."

Kakashi was interrupted as Naruto pulled up the short sleeve of his trench coat on his right arm, revealing that the long sleeve of his blue shirt underneath was actually a separate piece of clothing and attached with some form of Velcro. Naruto ripped his sleeve off with ease, revealing an intricate triangular tattoo on his arm. Biting his thumb, Naruto swiped the bloodied digit over the tattoo and summoned a tremendous amount of chakra. Blue light swirled around him momentarily as Naruto's chakra levels reached visible concentration for a moment before he let cry.

"_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_!"

Kakashi was shocked at this. _'Naruto has a summoning contract? Maybe this is what he meant when he said he wanted to be a summoning specialist...'_ With a great plume of smoke Naruto was obscured from view... but he was no longer alone.

"Naruto-sama, how can I help?"

That voice was human...

"Ten-chan, me and my team have encountered a missing-nin and I thought we could use some assistance. Are you able to help?" Naruto answered the owner of the voice.

"Of course Naruto-sama. _By the mercy of the Valkyrie, the chosen shall fight once more..._"

_'What the hell does that mean?'_ Kakashi thought to himself as the smoke began to clear. He was shocked however, when instead of a combat familiar, he saw Tsurara Tenshi in what appeared to be her ninja attire. She was wearing a Konoha Chunin vest and a sleeveless mesh shirt underneath... and apparently no bra. Kakashi almost giggled perversely at that. She also wore what appeared to be a platemail skirt made of a shiny silver metal and metallic greaves of a similar design. He right arm was encased in a metal gauntlet up to her elbow and her long blue hair flowed freely down her back. Over all this she wore a royal blue cloak around her shoulders that reached her ankles. Kakashi also managed to spot some kind of hilt poking out from her back but was unable to see what kind of weapon it was from under her cloak.

"That's an interesting kid you got there Kakashi... maybe when I'm through with you and the old man I'll take that brat with me," Zabuza said ominously.

It was then that he noticed what Naruto was holding in his hands, the sword's crystal blade glittering in the mist. Zabuza's eyes widened dramatically as he began to think furiously. _'Where did that brat get THAT sword?'_ He took a few seconds to eye Naruto's 'summon', noting her blue hair and red eyes before coming to a conclusion. _'So... she's from THAT clan, eh? That might make this difficult.'_ With no visible effort Zabuza pulled his giant sword onto his shoulder and jumped backwards, away from the group and onto the surface of the lake where he stood upon the water's surface as if it were solid ground.

"_**Kirigakure no jutsu**_," he intoned as he let out a burst of chakra.

The mist around them suddenly began to thicken exponentially. In a matter of seconds Naruto had a hard time making out his hand in front of his face. He backed up to where Sasuke and Sakura were standing around Tazuna before he began looking around warily, holding Claimh Solais in front of himself defensively.

"Everyone stay back and keep quiet, Zabuza is renowned for his mastery of the Silent Killing art. He'll kill you before you notice he's there," Kakashi warned.

"_Eight points... Larynx, kidney, liver, heart, brain, spinal cord, jugular, lungs... what soft, vulnerable target should I pick? Location, location, location..." _Zabuza's voice echoed all around them ominously, making it impossible to tell where it was coming from. At least for Kakashi and Team 7. With no hesitation Tenshi began a string of handseals and waved her right hand forward.

"_**Tsumetai Kaze...**_"

A burst of wind followed the arc of her arm, blue particles swirling around within it as it washed over the area in front of Tenshi, disappearing into the mist. There was a series of splashing noises that indicated movement across the water and Kakashi threw several kunai at it, hoping to score a hit. Tenshi also used Zabuza's careless movements to her advantage and pulled on the hilt under her cloak with her gauntleted hand. Kakashi was expecting some kind of blade, a tanto or perhaps even a nodachi. What he was not expecting was a _lance_. A long and narrow cone of metal with a grip that sunk into the wide end, giving the hand some measure of protection. However such a weapon could only stab, having no cutting edge. Tenshi frowned in thought before she reached her free hand up to her neck, where the clasp of her cloak was. She grabbed onto two small chains that hung down from it and pulled, causing her cloak to fold up along her spine until it was a narrow as a scarf, baring her back more so than was first noticed. What Kakashi immediately notcied was that her vest was markedly different from a standard Konoha vest. For one, it had not back. It was strapped to her around her neck and her navel but her bare back was exposed to the cold air. Her mesh undershirt seemed to share this feature, revealing a pair of tattoos on her shoulder-blades, resembling wings with a swirl inside.

"**Take wing..."**

Kakashi was about to ask the significance of her statement when a pair of feathery limbs burst from her back in a spray of chakra and smoke. Kakashi narrowed his eye and pulled his headband up, revealing his other eye for the first time since he had taken over Team 7. He looked more closely at Tenshi and realised that those limbs were in fact wings that had chakra flowing through them like an active summon. A blood red eye with three black tomoes met Tenshi's ruby orbs. Tenshi gave Kakashi a cold look before turning back to where they had last heard Zabuza, staying on guard.

"_So she's part of the Tsurara Clan... hehe, what's left of them."_

Tenshi stiffened at this.

"What do you mean _'What's left of them'_! Speak coward!" she exclaimed.

"_Haven't you heard? Two weeks ago the Mizukage found where the Tsurara had been hiding themselves. To remain a Hidden Clan in Kiri no Kuni, the Tsurara created seven weapons of unmatched potential. These became the weapons of the Seven Swordsmen, like this Kubikiri Houcho... however, it seems that the Mizukage decided it wasn't worth keeping your clan's bloodline around... they're gone."_

Tenshi's fist tightened at this. It was true that she hadn't heard from her Clan since she arrived in Konoha but she hadn't considered that Kiri's Bloodline Purge had reached her family. The Tsurara Clan owed their privacy and independence to their blacksmithing skills. They weren't primarily ninja, they were craftsmen, despite having a bloodline and summoning contract. To hear that the Mizukage had found them... Tenshi wondered to herself whether or not she may well be the last of her Clan.

"W-What happened to them?" she asked the mist, trying hard to control her voice.

"_Hehehe... it seems even civilians with bloodlines are being... **exterminated**."_

Tenshi lowered her head at this, her expression carefully neutral. She was only alive today thanks to Namikaze Minato. He had been a Jounin at the time and was on a mission in Kiri when he had become separated from his team and stumbled across the Tsurara Clan. They had been initially hostile, thinking him to be a spy of some sort. They were in a tense state, their Clan Head having contracted a serious illness while in the late stages of her pregnancy. The few medics in the Clan weren't trained well enough to treat her and it was feared that both she and the Clan Heir would be dead in the coming weeks. Minato had sympathized with them and called upon the services of the legendary medic-nin Tsunade to heal the Clan Head. Thanks to his intervention, Tenshi's mother had survived and given birth to her. Minato had initially refused their offers of compensation but had agreed on signing a Clan Treaty with them, allowing the Tsurara to pledge their support to the Namikaze Clan. They had even offered their new Clan Heir's hand in marriage to Minato's offspring but he had none at the time. It was only when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha that Minato had sent a hurried missive to the Tsurara, explaining that he was sacrificing his life to seal the Bijuu in his son, and asking for their aid in protecting Naruto. Signing a Summoning Contract with Minato, the Tsurara sent watchers to protect Naruto discreetly while he grew up in Konoha, being unable to directly help him as they were not affiliated with Konoha. Tenshi began trembling at the thought of losing her mother, denial and angry flooding her mind.

"You lie..." she said coldly.

"_Whatever you say... hime," _the mist replied darkly.

Before anyone could react, Zabuza was suddenly in the middle of the protective circle of Genin around Tazuna, the Kubikiri Houcho already in motion to cleave them all in two. Naruto reacted quickly and swung Claimh Solais in the way once more and was surprised when his blade was attracted the Zabuza's. Genin and nuke-nin remained locked in position, struggling for dominance... well, Naruto was struggling however Zabuza looked unconcerned. He began pushing much harder and Naruto was forced onto one knee. With a snort Zabuza drew his zanbatou back and swung at Naruto's weakened guard... only to be met once again by his crystal blade. Naruto looked up, his eyes narrowed in concentration. However, before Zabuza could try again, Kakashi was at his back with a kunai plunged into his spine. Zabuza let out a shocked grunt before he turned into water a splashed onto the ground.

"Damn, a _**Mizu Bushin**_..." Kakashi swore.

"Nice try Kakashi!" Zabuza shouted.

Kakashi turned around just as Kubikiri Houcho tore into his side, cleaving him in half, much to the shock of everyone else. However that shock turned into surprise as Kakashi turned into water as well and splashed to the ground. The real Kakashi was once again behind Zabuza, this time with a kunai at his throat.

"Impressive," Zabuza chuckled. "Using the Sharingan to copy my _**Mizu Bushin**_, even in this mist."

"Sharingan?" Naruto asked aloud.

"It's the doujutsu of the Uchiha clan..." Sasuke found himself saying, in shock at seeing Kakashi's eye. "It has incredible powers including the ability to analyse, predict and copy any form of tai, nin and genjutsu. When in use the whole world looks like its standing still."

Naruto found himself in awe at just how powerful Kakashi was. _'He's way stronger than I thought, even for a student of father...'_ he thought to himself. Naruto brought himself back to reality just in time to see Zabuza push himself against Kakashi's kunai... and turn into water again. Kakashi was then thrown into the lake by a powerful kick from the apparent 'real' Zabuza. Kakashi surfaced just as Zabuza reached him, but before he could form the handseals for the _**Suirou no jutsu**_ he was forced to dodge a vicious lunge from Tenshi's lance. The winged woman rushed forward, stabbing at Zabuza angrily, her wings flapping to give her added speed. Zabuza showed just how he earned his A-Rank in the Bingo Book as he easily dodged or parried each of Tenshi's attacks, flowing from one move to the next. As Tenshi lunged for another stab Zabuza used an axe kick to force her lance downwards. He then put his weight on her weapon and jumped off of it, avoiding what would have been a fatal stab from Kakashi's kunai. Zabuza twisted in midair, swinging his zanbatou at both his opponents, forcing them back.

"You have some talent _hime_... Surprising for a kunoichi from a family of _carpenters_..." Zabuza remarked mockingly.

Tenshi's grip on her lance tightened as she let out a seething growl at the jab against her family's profession.

"My family... made the blade you use... we can take it back! _Meshiyoseru seizo moto_," she exclaimed furiously, a burst of chakra being expelled from her body.

Zabuza frowned as she said this but his frown turned to a look of disbelief as the Kubikiri Houcho disappeared from his hands, reappearing in Tenshi's. Zabuza scowled fiercely at this turn of events. He'd have to kill her if he wanted to keep his favourite weapon to make sure she couldn't remove it from him again like she had just done. Obviously the Tsurara were more thorough in how they safeguarded their creations, having some form of summoning ability for anything they had personally crafted. Zabuza suddenly recalled the attraction Kubikiri Houcho had experienced against that Naruto boy's sword, almost as if they were magnetic towards one another. Zabuza snorted and began a series of handseals that Kakashi mimicked using his Sharingan while Tenshi ran over to the rest of Team 7 as they watched the fight in awe. _'So this is what a high level battle is like... it's a shame I don't have enough chakra control to charge the lake with my raiton jutsu, otherwise I'd barbecue that Zabuza for upsetting Ten-chan,'_ Naruto thought, disappointed that he couldn't help. He had only just begun trying to manipulate his nature affinities and had learned a basic jutsu from both wind and lightning styles, but he was a long way from having adequate control.

"Naruto-sama, hold onto this," Tenshi said coldly, thrusting the reclaimed weapon towards him.

Naruto blinked in surprise before he reached out to take the Kubikiri Houcho. He flinched however when his right hand sparked with residual electricity from his badly channeled raiton jutsu in the fight against the Demon Brothers, causing a magnetic reaction within the steel of the zanbatou that repelled it slightly. Naruto swore and shook his hand, trying to get his chakra flow stable again before he reached out and grabbed the weapon, this time without ill effect. Tenshi noticed Naruto's flinch and chakra spike, deciding to ask him about it later, before she turned back to where Kakashi and Zabuza were completing their jutsu.

"_**Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!**_" they exclaimed in perfect unison.

Two serpentine forms rose from the water, twisting through the air like snakes as they moved to the spell of their casters. Kakashi's Sharingan eye allowed him to see exactly how Zabuza was manipulating his water dragon, which allowed him to mirror it precisely as a counter. The dragons collided with each other violently, sending a massive deluge of water through the air. As it fell back into the lake like an artificial rainstorm, Kakashi and Zabuza clashed against one another with kunai. Zabuza, being larger and physically stronger than Kakashi had the upperhand as he began to push kakashi back, weakening his guard slowly but surely. He was caught off guard however, when a pair of shuriken imbedded themselves into his arm, causing him to lose focus. Kakashi used the opportunity to try and stab Zabuza in the forehead however the missing-nin leapt back. Tenshi frowned and moved to intercept him when she suddenly found herself unable to move.

"_**Suiton: Suirou no jutsu**_," Zabuza hissed in her ear.

_'Damn! A Mizu Bushin!'_ Tenshi thought. Trapped in her prison of water and being drained of her chakra, Tenshi was forced to watch as Kakashi continued the fight without her. Zabuza and Kakashi danced around one another, kunai in each hand sparking as they clanged and sparked against one another. Unfortunately Kakashi was not as experienced at handling weapons as Zabuza and received a few minor lacerations while causing less against his opponent. His Sharingan's prediction ability was hindered by the chakra induced mist which had begun to dissipate as Zabuza's chakra levels dropped but it had taken too long for it to do so. It seemed as though fate was on his side though when Zabuza disengaged and began running through handseals once more that he began copying, though notably slower than Zabuza's.

"That eye of yours is really beginning-," Zabuza began.

"To piss you off, right?" Kakashi finished.

"Shut it! You're nothing but-!"

"A cheap imitating monkey," Kakashi interrupted as though reading his thoughts.

Zabuza scowled but relished the thought that he'd finish the jutsu first... until he saw it. _'Is that... me?'_ he thought as an image of himself appeared next to Kakashi, mirroring his movements perfectly. The sight was disturbing enough to interrupt his handseals, but Kakashi was continuing! Kakashi flashed through three more seals and a surge of chakra flooded the water they were standing on, causing it to rise on Kakashi's command.

"_**Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu!**_" Kakashi shouted.

A swirling mass of water careened into Zabuza, crushing him under its weight as it swept him right into the trunk of a large tree at the edge of the lake. Zabuza felt a few of his ribs break on impact and let out a pained grunt, sitting immobilized against the tree. His mizu bushin lost cohesion and the water prison surrounding Tenshi collapsed, the young woman falling to her knees as she gasped for air. Nearby, Kakashi approached Zabuza menacingly with a pair of kunai in each hand.

"Can you... see the future?" Zabuza managed to rasp out.

"Yes," Kakashi replied coldly. "Your future is death..."

Before he could make good on his implied threat, Kakashi leapt back as a pair of long needles shot out of the trees and into Zabuza's neck. The man let out a strangled cry before falling back against the tree limply, his eyes turning glassy and unseeing. Kakashi looked to the source of the weapons and saw a small figure jump down from the trees lightly. Whoever it was, was certainly androgynous enough. They were wearing a mask with thin slits for eyes and the crest of Kiri on its forehead. Long black hair that could be masculine or feminine was tied up in a tight knot with a short tail reaching down to the base of their neck. A baggy and unassuming outfit that was green-ish in colour also gave nothing away and Kakashi noticed the figure also wore some kind of collar that obscured their throat, making it impossible for Kakashi to even identify the gender of this person.

"My thanks for your assistance in weakening him," the figure spoke in a light voice. "I have been hunting Zabuza for some time now."

"You're a hunter nin... from Kirigakure," Kakashi stated questioningly.

"Indeed. However before I go I must ask you to return the Kubikiri Houcho. It is property of Kiri afterall," the hunter said neutrally.

Kakashi turned to Tenshi however he noted with concern that she had lost consciousness at some point. She was lying against a tree next to Team 7 with Naruto's trench coat covering her, indicating that he'd already checked her over. Kakashi called Naruto over and the young Genin brought the large zanbatou, though not without some difficulty as the weapon was exceptionally heavy, showing just how strong Zabuza was for his ability to wield it so easily. When Kakashi told Naruto to hand the blade over Naruto immediately protested.

"You heard Ten-chan! She took it away from Zabuza! He even admitted that her clan made it in the first place!" he exclaimed angrily.

"That may be so Naruto but remember that Zabuza stole it from Kiri first and Tsurara-san admitted that her clan gave Kiri ownership of the weapon. Since she isn't conscious it's up to me to make the decision in her place and it could cause a diplomatic incident if we attempted to keep it for ourselves. Kiri could consider it an act of theft, or even an insult since the Seven Swordsman were quite revered as were their weapons," Kakashi explained.

Naruto grumbled under his breath but he saw Kakashi's point and acquiesced to his order. The hunter-nin easily lifted the huge sword onto his or her shoulder and lifted Zabuza's lifeless body onto the other before performing a seal-less _Shunshin_ out of the area. It was at that moment that Kakashi chose to collapse to the ground, much to Naruto's shock. _'Used the Sharingan too much... gonna be out of it for a while because of this...'_ Kakashi thought. With the last of his strength Kakashi managed to pull his headband back over his Sharingan eye and sighed in relief as it stopped sapping what little chakra he had remaining.

"Sorry Naruto, looks like you'll have to carry me and Tsurara-san to Tazuna's residence," he said apologetically.

"No problem Kakashi-sensei," Naruto replied before spawning a pair of _Kage Bushin_.

The first clone picked up Kakashi in a fireman's carry much to the jounin's chagrin, while the second carefully lifted Tenshi and carried her bridal-style. A shell-shocked Tazuna led them to his house, which was thankfully not that far. It was a modest home next to another small lake, which Naruto complained about as he was sick of large bodies of water. This started another small argument with Sakura which Kakashi futilely tried to diffuse and Sasuke ignored. Tazuna simply shook his head as he led them to his front door and stepped through the threshold.

"I'm home!" he called out.

"Father! You made it back safely!" came a woman's voice.

"Yes and it was all thanks to these amazing ninja Tsunami," Tazuna replied.

Tsunami was a beautiful young woman who looked to be in her early to late twenties, with long dark blue hair and a modest dress that still showed off a healthy figure. Kakashi tried not to stare at her, thinking to himself that it was bad for business to be eye-balling the client's daughter. Tsunami gratefully led Team 7 inside and got them situated in their living area. Naruto dumped Kakashi into a nearby armchair, which the jounin was thankful for even if Naruto wasn't too gentle about it. His actions towards Tenshi were the complete opposite as he carefully laid her out on the only couch and pulled his trench coat over her again, pulling it up to her shoulders. Kakashi wondered if Naruto knew what his behaviour looked like to others as the boy gently tucked a loose strand of Tenshi's blue hair behind her ear, causing her mouth to twitch up at the corner unconsciously. _'Naruto obviously cares for Tsurara-san deeply... much more than he does for anyone on this team so far,'_ Kakashi thought sadly. Sasuke and Sakura simply stood to the side and watched, one with surprise and the other with disdain (guess who?) at Naruto's affectionate ministrations. Tsunami chose this moment to address the ninja present.

"I want to thank you all for protecting my father on his way back here," she said kindly, though her words sounded hollow. "From what he tells me you were in quite a battle?"

It was Sakura of all people who decided to speak up.

"It was no trouble Tsunami-san," she said. "We were just doing our jobs. We are to protect Tazuna and we will do so no matter the risk."

_'She's growing up...' _Both Kakashi and Naruto thought.

"Arigatou shinobi-san," Tsunami replied gratefully.

"It doesn't matter, they're going to die anyway."

Everyone turned to the new voice and saw a small boy in blue overalls and a bucket hat glaring at the gathered ninja. His messy black hair shadowed his eyes a little but not enough for Naruto to see how puffy and red they were.

"What do you know brat? You weren't at our fight earlier today with Gato's top ninja," Naruto retorted with disdain. "If it weren't for us the old man would've come home in separate boxes."

"NARUTO!" Sakura screeched. "That was completely inappropriate! I demand you apologize to-."

It was then that Sakura noticed that the little boy was gone. Tazuna sighed and apologized for the boy's behaviour, explaining that he was his grandson and was called Inari. Naruto simply scoffed at Inari's attitude, having seen one just like it in himself many years ago. Naruto had long since learned that crying over your problems was a waste of time and if you had the energy to feel sorry for yourself, you had the energy to try and make things better.

"Naruto, we're going to need a plan for protecting Tazuna effectively, now that we have ninja against us. Can you use your clones to scout the area around the house and bridge so we can make a map?" Kakashi asked from his armchair.

"Sure thing Kakashi-sensei."

**Later that day...**

Naruto's horde of kage bushin had made short work of exploring the area, making note of areas of interest such as a small clearing filled with herbs and a dirt path to the bridge with forestry on either side. Kakashi applauded Naruto's tactical thinking while trying to recover his strength. He had been moved to a bed in one of the rooms where he could rest more effectively but he was still able to issue orders. Sakura and Sasuke were assigned to guard Tazuna as he went about his business today and Tenshi was still unconscious while Naruto watched over her. It was later in the evening when she finally woke up while Naruto was sitting at her side.

"N-Naruto-sama...?" she groaned quietly.

Naruto smiled affectionately.

"I've told you a thousand times Ten-chan, call me 'Naruto'," he replied softly.

"I'm sorry... I failed you..." she whispered, her eyes downcast.

"No! Don't say that Ten-chan. We're all safe and sound thanks to your help," Naruto scolded. "Zabuza was stronger than any of us knew but he's gone. An Oi Nin took care of him at the end of the fight."

"Oi Nin? How?" Tenshi asked in confusion while staying reclined, her muscles still very sore.

"I don't know exactly. The hunter took off with Zabuza's body and the Kubikiri Houcho. Kakashi thought it would cause an incident if we didn't return them to Kiri," Naruto replied.

Tenshi's eyes widened in shock.

"What! Naruto that can't be right!" she exclaimed, her breathing becoming irregular. "That sword belongs to my clan, Kirigakure has no legitimate claim to ownership of it!"

"I'm sorry Ten-chan... Kakashi thought differently," Naruto replied regretfully.

Tenshi scowled fiercely but it was not directed at Naruto. Before she could say anything else about the stolen zanbatou she was suddenly struck by the other part of what he said hit her.

"Wait... you said this hunter took the Kubikiri Houcho AND Zabuza's body?"

"Yeah?" Naruto asked, not liking her tone.

Tenshi groaned loudly, surprising Naruto. It wasn't like her to show her feelings so openly.

"That wasn't hunter... Whoever it was... was Zabuza's accomplice. Hunters are supposed to take a missing nin's head and burn the body where it falls in case someone intercepts them, since a ninja's corpse can contain many secrets," Tenshi explained with frustration.

She was pleased to see that Naruto wasn't as surprised as she thought he'd be. He took what she said in stride, going through her thought process and nodding in agreement. Tenshi took the time to look around while Naruto was in contemplation. She was lying on a couch in a living area, probably in the client's home. She blushed slightly when she saw that she was covered with Naruto's trench coat. _'Has he been with me the whole time I was unconscious?'_ she wondered.

"Naruto-sa-... Naruto. How long have I been unconscious?" she asked quietly.

"The better part of six hours. You got a mild case of chakra exhaustion and nearly drowned in Zabuza's water prison," Naruto replied.

"And you've been here... with me the whole time?" she asked, her voice becoming quieter.

Naruto looked down at Tenshi and noticed she wasn't able to look him in the eyes and her face was becoming flushed. In his opinion she looked rather cute as opposed to her cold beauty when she kept up her expressionless façade. Naruto reached down hesitantly and stroked her cheek with his thumb causing her to look up and blush harder. Naruto jumped a little and tried to pull back but Tenshi reached for his hand and pulled it back to her face, a small and shy smile touching her lips.

"I... I like this," she said softly. "Your hands are warm..."

"Ten-chan I..." Naruto began but he trailed off, his uncertainty showing in his eyes.

"I know I don't show much emotion... it's the way I was raised when I decided to be a kunoichi in my clan..." Tenshi said quietly.

"It's alright Ten-chan. I care about you," Naruto replied.

He didn't know what else to say. Tenshi was usually extremely composed and in control of herself. Something during the confrontation with Zabuza had changed that and she seemed much more insecure, almost afraid. Naruto remembered what Zabuza said about Tenshi's clan and realised that if what he said was true, she could very well be an orphan now. Naruto gently took Tenshi's hand and gave it a soft squeeze, much like the Sandaime had done to comfort him when he was much younger and upset. He could even see tears beginning to form in her beautiful ruby eyes.

"Naruto... when you first summoned me I was... I was doing my duty towards my clan but as I got to know you... I-I'm trying to say," Tenshi mumbled. "If they're gone... you're all I have. You already mean so much to me..."

Naruto was frozen in his position kneeling on the floor next to her, his mind trying to wrap around what she was saying. Tenshi... Hinote... Ken, they were his closest and dearest friends. He considered them almost like his family, even if they were his _subordinates_. Though bound to him by the Summoning Contract, Naruto had never once considered them as servants. He understood that the three of them cared for him too, sticking up for him, fighting for him... he wondered if this was what it was like to have a real family. The dull world he had lived in before they came had become brighter and he could freely admit that he looked forward to the following day when he went to sleep at night.

"_I love you..."_

Naruto's world exploded with colour.

* * *

**That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**Tenshi's background has not been delved into in as much detail as Ken's was but this is largely because I have explained it in a different manner. Ken's background was explored through 'flashbacks' that related to what was happening in the present. Tenshi's has been done in the present through dialogue between characters and thought. However the next chapter will go into her past even more as the Wave Arc continues. There have been more clues to Naruto's secret jutsu that he'll begin working on and finish in the next chapter, so kudos to anyone who can work out what it is before I post chapter 6.**

**For those who commented that Naruto's Summoning Contract with the 3 OCs doesn't seem like it, it would be more accurate to compare his technique with the summoning scrolls from the Chunin Exam. He can't use it whenever he feels like it as the one he summons could already be in the middle of something important.**

**I'll leave the poll open for another 2 chapters before I close it. The leaders so far being Naru/Tayu/one of the OC and the full small harem. I've not decided which of the 3 OC's will be the one involved with Naruto yet so don't read too deeply into what I've touched on in this chapter, since all 3 OCs love Naruto in different ways. For anyone who wants to know I'll be going over Hinote's background during the start of the Chunin Exam Arc.**

**Peace out for now.**

**_Kirigakure no jutsu = Hidden Mist_**

**_Shu Rai no jutsu = Lightning Strike_**

**_Hikari no Yaiba = Blade of Dawn_**

**_Suiryuudan no jutsu = Water Dragon Missle_**

**_Suirou no jutsu = Water Prison_**

**_Daibakufu no jutsu = Exploding Water Shockwave (I think)_**

**_Kuchiyose no jutsu = Summoning Technique_**

**_Mizu Bushin = Water Clone_**

**_Kage Bushin = Duh..._**


	6. Chapter 6: The Bridge Club

**He is My Master: Elemental Summoner Naruto!**

**Chapter 6 is here!**

**A word to some of my readers in particular:**

**( ): Thank you for your input, your thoughts are never considered a waste of time. As for Tsuchi Kin... we'll see what happens.**

**Mazzax: As you have correctly guessed there are limits to the Tsurara's "Call of the Maker" ability to summon their works. This is explained more in this chapter (since fighting Zabuza without the Head Cleaver would suck).**

**Drac-frst: I was most impressed with your review, as it was actually a _review_ in the full sense of the word. Yes I am pulling elements from loads of other places, however I'm planning on keeping the storyline as canon as possible up to a certain point where my main plot will come into effect. What that is I can't say. I also have your opinion of Naru/Hina, but opened a poll since I have too many options to choose from by myself, all of which I could work into the story quite well I believe.**

**And that is all. Now in this chapter I'll be revealing our characters' newer techniques that they will work on in the week that they have (since Zabuza was put in a deathlike state). Also the relationship between Naruto and Tenshi will be developed more since we have a lot of readers wanting to see where an OC pairing goes. Have yet to decide if all 3 will be involved.**

**Anyway, let us begin.**

**EDIT: I am so sorry for how long this has taken me to write. Having finished college I've been studying like mad the past few months for my university course (I ACTUALLY got in! :D) However, it being Electrical Engineering means I've been studying Maths much more than writing or even playing WoW or LoL. Anyways having gone over my material up til now I'm pleased to say that the Naru/Hina/Tayu/OC (one or all) has blown all others out of the water, so I'll work with that one first and foremost.**

**Also this chapter will reveal Naruto's new jutsu (some of you should correctly guess it before he actually uses it), as well as expand on his second dream to be a summoning specialist.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Bridge Club**

Naruto went through his morning routine in a daze, actions performed by sheer reflex as he got dressed and brushed his teeth. The events of the previous night were constantly at the forefront of his mind. The adoration in Tenshi's eyes... the shy smile turning up her small mouth... the way her soft velvety lips touched his own. Naruto and Tenshi had shared their first kiss in a client's living room and while Naruto had not been expecting it, it had made him feel like the luckiest boy on the planet. Tenshi had fallen asleep again a little while afterwards due to her fatigue but she had held Naruto close to her the entire time. Once she had dozed off Naruto removed himself gently from her grasp and had considered sleeping on the armchair Kakashi had occupied so that he was with her when she woke up again. He had eventually decided not to while he tried to sort his thoughts out.

Naruto came down the stairs yawning slightly and spotted Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke already seated around the dining table in Tazuna's kitchen. Sasuke barely glanced at him while Sakura gave a small 'good morning' and Kakashi had simply eye-smiled. Naruto looked around for Tenshi and saw that she wasn't there, an action Kakashi noticed.

"Tsurara-san is still sleeping in the living area Naruto," he said to the young blonde.

Naruto nodded and made his way to the room, spotting Tenshi curled up under his trench coat. She was breathing lightly and seemed to be resting peacefully, however her eyes snapped open as Naruto approached. Naruto was quietly impressed at her senses as he bid her a warm good morning, which Tenshi returned when she saw who it was. She got up slowly, wincing as her stiff muscles protested and Naruto moved to help her up, enjoying the contact they shared as he did so. Tenshi recovered her retracting cloak from a nearby piece of furniture and threw it around her bare shoulders, tying it off around her neck. Meanwhile Naruto retrieved his coat and donned it similarly.

"Ten-chan. We need to tell Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said suddenly.

"I know... Naruto-kun," she replied, her voice softening at her use of the 'kun' suffix.

"Ten-chan... what you said last night," Naruto began. "Does... does that make us boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Tenshi smiled gently, something that Naruto had only seen a handful of times before but wished to see more of.

"Only if you want it to," she replied.

Naruto didn't respond with words. Rather he put his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a warm embrace. Tenshi hesitantly returned it, not used to such close physical contact despite her feelings for Naruto. As she did, she noticed his shoulders were trembling and heard Naruto sniff slightly. Tenshi pulled back enough to see Naruto's face and was shocked to see tears trailing down his cheeks. In the time she had known Naruto she had learned that he hated crying and wondered why he was doing so now.

"I've always dreamed of having someone love me for who I am," Naruto explained shakily, as if reading her mind. "It's alright to cry when you're happy."

Tenshi felt her eyes prickling themselves and hugged Naruto closer, glad that they could share this moment in peace. Unfortunately, fate seemed to have other plans for the future. The peace they knew at that moment, would not come again for some time. After a few minutes Naruto broke away from Tenshi to wipe his tears away before offering her a wide smile. He took her hand in his and led her into the kitchen, where they sat at the table with the rest of Team 7. Upon seeing them both Kakashi decided to make his thoughts known.

"Alright team, we need to work ou-," he began.

"Excuse me Kakashi-san," Tenshi interrupted. "Before you make any plans, I have some dire news."

Kakashi blinked before nodding his head to her.

"Momochi Zabuza is still alive," she said simply.

Sakura went into an uproar immediately.

"What! What do you mean he's alive! We saw that hunter-nin take care of him!" she exclaimed loudly.

"Yes, but do you not find the manner in which he or she did so suspicious?" Tenshi replied calmly. "What weapon did they use?"

"Senbon needles..." Kakashi breathed. "Of course! Shit!"

Tenshi said nothing as Kakashi swore, knowing that Kakashi had figured it out and would likely explain to them.

"Sakura, senbon needles are generally used in acupuncture therapy and have an extremely low lethality quotient compared to kunai and even shuriken," Kakashi said, his dismay evident in his tone. "In fact, if you had enough accuracy you could strike a person in specific nerve points to put them in a death-like state."

"So that hunter-nin was actually rescuing Zabuza," Sasuke said more as a statement.

"Right. However it takes a while to recover from such a state, as well as the injuries we inflicted on Zabuza. I'd estimate we have about a week before he's back to full health, maybe less time if his accomplice is a skilled medic," Kakashi replied. "This changes things. If we have to fight Zabuza again as well as his friend, we're going to need to train for the encounter, while still protecting Tazuna."

Naruto took this moment to speak up.

"I have an idea for a new jutsu Kakashi-sensei. As well as that I think I should start on Water-walking since I've mastered Tree-Walking already," he said confidently.

"I agree. What about this idea you have?" Kakashi asked with interest.

"It's a surprise. Also I think we should try to learn some basic jutsu on elements that aren't our affinity," Naruto answered.

"Why would we do that?" Sakura asked. "It's easier to use jutsu that we do have an affinity for."

Tenshi was the one who answered her.

"That's true, but it won't always be helpful. Sasuke-san has a fire affinity, but what if he met someone with an equally strong water affinity? He would be well served if he knew some earth jutsu to counter them since you might not be there," she explained clearly, causing Sakura to nod in understanding.

"It's clear that you and Naruto have been thinking about our situation for a while. What would you suggest?" Kakashi probed curiously.

"I think you should help Naruto with his new jutsu. I shall teach Sakura and Sasuke the chakra control exercise while you do the same for Naruto. Naruto can also create a number of kage bushin to guard Tazuna at the same time," Tenshi said in a flat tone.

Kakashi nodded in agreement at her idea and ushered his students outside, none of them noticing the dull eyes watching them with contempt from the stairs. Team 7, Kakashi and Tenshi found a secluded clearing only a small distance from Tazuna's house and gathered in the middle of it. There, Tenshi explained the fundamentals of the Tree-Walking while Kakashi continued on with Naruto in tow, who had created ten Kage Bushin to watch over Tazuna, and another five to watch the house at Tenshi's request.

_With Tenshi..._

"Now, you both should know that chakra is a mix of two different types of energy that exist in nature and living creatures like us. Physical Energy, also known as Kei, is basically our life energy and is what gives us strength for physical activity and vitality, it is a physical quantity that our bodies chemically produce and absorb through eating and sleeping. Spiritual Energy, also known as Rei, is the more intangible of the two. Humans are more than the sum of their biological parts and it's because of Rei energy, giving us 'spirit' or even our very souls. By mixing these two together in the correct amount, we can project our will in the physical world in a variety of ways which we call jutsu," Tenshi explained in a sharp and authoritative voice. "Tree-Walking is an exercise in controlling our chakra. With a set amount, gathered at the soles of our feet, we can adhere to surfaces be it the floor, the walls, or even the ceiling. Different materials around us requires slightly different amounts of chakra to coax out the adhesive property. Now, I want you both to channel chakra to your feet, and attempt to _walk_ up these trees. I will not allow running. It gives a poor demonstration of chakra control if you rely on momentum to gain altitude. Begin."

Sasuke and Sakura were both surprised at the detailed explanation, particularly about the composition of chakra. The Academy instructors had never explained it so thoroughly. After a few seconds Tenshi frowned at them silently and they began to try the exercise. Sakura held her right arm the half seal to help her concentrate as she tentatively placed one foot against the tree in front of her. To her surprise she found her foot held in place quite strongly, as if the gravitational constant of the universe for her left foot had centred itself at the tree. Feeling more confident, Sakura lift her right foot up and left the grass forest floor behind as she began to steadily walk up the tree. She reached the lowest branch within thirty seconds and moved onto it, breathing heavily.

"This isn't so hard after all! That explains why even Naruto can do it," Sakura said smugly, forgetting who was present.

"Oh really?"

Sakura looked up and found Tenshi staring at her... except she was upside down. Sakura followed her, admittedly curvy, body up (or down) and saw her feet attached solidly to the branch above. Tenshi glared holes into Sakura's head as she waited for a response. When Sakura gave her none she sniffed in annoyance and flipped onto the branch Sakura was sitting on.

"Continue..."

Sakura looked at her in confusion.

"What?"

"Continue walking up the tree," Tenshi said, her tone unchanged but Sakura could _feel_ the anger oozing from her.

Sakura decided it would probably be better for her if she did as she was told and got up before attempting to continue up the tree. However, as she made her first few steps she found herself losing her focus and began feeling weak at the knees. She barely made another step before her feet suddenly gave way from the trunk of the tree and she began to fall. Sakura breathed in so that she could scream in fear before her breath was choked back as she came to a stop, hanging upside down by her right ankle. Looking down... up... she saw Tenshi holding her ankle in a vice-like grip.

"Not so easy is it?" she drawled. "By expending chakra to walk up the tree, you lowered the amount of chakra in your reserves. Chakra control focuses much more on Rei, while the reserves of chakra in your body focuses more on your fitness and vitality. Neither are mutually exclusive to the other however. Your chakra control is only so good because you practically have none!"

Tenshi's volume rose an octave at the end of this.

"You exhausted yourself after only fifteen feet! Naruto could adhere himself to any surface and stay there for days! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to even _start_ learning to control chakra when you have as much as any Jounin?" she exclaimed viciously.

Sakura could only gape at her in shock. Naruto had as much chakra as Kakashi? Then again... he did know the Kage Bushin and she'd seen him produce fifteen without the slightest sign of fatigue. Solid clones were well beyond her capacity to use but Naruto was able to throw them around like party favours. Tenshi was probably right and Sakura was simply underestimating her blonde team-mate... again. It was a habit forged over years of being in the Academy with the boy and difficult to fully break despite the fact that her opinions and reality did not match up.

While this was happening Sasuke was learning how to Tree-Walk... the hard way. He used his 'must gain more power' approach on his first try to walk up the tree. When his foot had touched the trunk, it had felt like something had slammed into the sole of his sandal and thrown him a good five feet away, leaving a small foot-shaped crater in the tree trunk. Feeling rather silly with himself Sasuke then decided to be more cautious and simply held his foot against the trunk while slowly increasing the amount of chakra he was trying to channel through it. Eventually he felt his foot was secure enough and tried to take a few steps up, however his focus on his chakra wavered as he tried to focus on walking as well and he felt himself slipping. With a grunt he pushed off from the trunk and landed lightly on his feet, annoyed that the exercise wasn't going to be easy.

"Harder than it looks, isn't it?"

Sasuke said nothing as Tenshi stood next to him, looking at the tree he was attempting to conquer.

"Would you like some advice Uchiha?" she asked him pointedly.

Sasuke almost spat out a 'no' but reigned the impulse back. It was clear to him that this kunoichi was strong, maybe even stronger than he was. Perhaps her advice could help him to get stronger too. With this thought in his mind Sasuke nodded shortly, turning to look at her. Tenshi looked back with a ghost of a smile.

"Take your time," she said simply.

"What?" Sasuke asked, annoyed at her so-called 'advice'.

"I mean _take your time_. You're trying to walk all the way up the tree at once. You started off well but you immediately lost focus when you thought you could do it. This time, start with one foot, secure it, then take one step and do not take another until your first foot is absolutely secure. Only then can you take the next step, and repeat that process. It will take much longer, but as you begin to adapt to the amount of chakra you're channelling, it will become easier and easier until it is second nature and you can do it without thinking about it," Tenshi explained calmly, ignoring his frown. "Remember this saying Uchiha, my father taught it to me: _Good things come to those who wait_."

Sasuke said nothing, as usual, but he thought about what she told him. It actually made sense in a cold logic sort of way. Like how calligraphy was much neater if it wasn't rushed. It went against Sasuke's desire to get as much power as quickly as possible but if his haste weakened him in the long run, it may be better if he took his time. _'Heh... let Itachi sweat, thinking I could hunt him down at any time, while I keep training so that I can crush him when I finally do,' _Sasuke thought darkly.

With an uncharacteristic grin, Sasuke planted his left foot on the trunk and began to wait.

_With Naruto and Kakashi..._

"So Naruto, are you going to tell me about your jutsu now?" Kakashi asked once they'd walked for another few minutes.

He and Naruto had reached the edge of a small lake in a large clearing of the woods, the grass underfoot slowly transitioning to sand and mud. Naruto smiled slightly and stooped down to pick up a small, round rock. With a casual flick of his wrist he flung the stone out, watching it skip along the surface of the water several times before coming to a stop with a splash and disappearing.

"Neh, Kakashi-sensei? Are all metals normally conductive?" Naruto asked.

"All metals are somewhat conductive. Some are much more conductive than others, like the precious metals gold and silver. However they're too expensive and valuable to be used as wiring so copper is used instead. Other metals aren't very conductive at all like lead, but they do conduct electricity," Kakashi answered.

Naruto smirked at the information.

"Well, my jutsu relies on metals being able to conduct electricity and become magnetic. Actually apparently everything can be influenced by magnetism to different degrees but anyway, watch this," Naruto said.

Naruto reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a single ryo coin. Interested, Kakashi watched as Naruto placed the coin in the middle of his palm. His interest grew when Naruto seallessly began to channel raiton chakra to his hand and the coin reacted by being repelled and sliding through the air off his hand and onto the ground. Naruto picked up the fallen coin and looked at Kakashi expectantly.

"Well?" Naruto asked.

"I'm guessing your jutsu is to do with being able to increase the repelling force in your hand suddenly to make the coin move faster... and in a certain direction?" Kakashi theorised, seeing that Naruto's stone-skipping was his clue.

"Exactly... but I don't know how to start," Naruto answered. "I can barely get it to lift off my hand even with all the chakra I push into it."

"Hmm... well I'm no expert on electrical engineering but I do have a strong Lightning Affinity..." Kakashi said thoughtfully. "Actually I think I know what you could do."

"Really?"

"Yes. It's like a capacitor. From what I understand, electricity builds up on one side of it and it has to reach a certain level before it can cross over to continue the circuit, like a time delay. I suppose you could achieve your desired result using a similar premise. Build up a lot of raiton chakra without actually using it, then force it all out at once through a single focal point," Kakashi thought aloud.

"Gotcha... and um, Kakashi sensei?" Naruto added.

"Hmm?"

"Have you got any spare coins?"

_3 days later..._

Team 7, Kakashi and Tenshi were gathered around the dining table along with Tsunami, Tazuna and Inari. It was a sombre affair, since Tsunami and Inari weren't very talkative. Tazuna tried to break the silence now and then but he wasn't able to show much interest in ninja affairs and the only other things he had to talk about were how poor the country was and how far along his bridge had come, both of which they all knew. Things weren't completely silent however, as Sakura kept talking to the side of Sasuke's head, droning on about how much stronger she was becoming and how they could go out on a date when they got back to Konoha. Kakashi sat in silence, reading his book and finishing his food before anyone even had a chance to look at him. Naruto and Tenshi also ate in silence but every few seconds they'd look at one another and smile, or blush. Sasuke simply stared at the two from across the table, his expression unreadable. Inari seemed to be trying to sulk a hole into a spot on the table.

"So Naruto, what's this jutsu of yours?" Sakura asked suddenly.

Even Sasuke perked up, having been ignoring Sakura for the past few minutes. Naruto gave Sakura a glance while chewing on his food, which he calmly finished chewing and swallowing before replying. Sakura was rather impressed with Naruto's table manners and correctly assumed that Tenshi had something to do with it since he didn't have parents to teach him such things. Sakura winced as she thought of that, remembering all the times she'd taken her own parents for granted or bullied Naruto about his lack of social skills and manners.

"Well, according to Kakashi-sensei, if I can build up enough electrical charge in my arm and direct it to a single small point I can repel conductive objects with great force. Right now I'm practising with small metal... objects," Naruto answered, catching himself before he said the word 'coins'. It wouldn't go down well if their clients found out Naruto was using _money_ to practice a new jutsu. Naruto had already destroyed almost half of the change he had with him while trying to find the correct amount of charge to use.

"Okay... well anything that could be affected on that scale would fly as straight as a rail," Sakura noted.

Naruto blinked at that.

"I guess. Anyway Ten-chan tells me you're both doing well with the Tree-Walking?"

Sakura responded hesitantly. "I'll be honest I had my doubts about her teaching us since she's only a few years older than we are, but she's a good teacher. I've already mastered the exercise so I'm using it now to build up bigger reserves, and Sasuke-kun's nearly mastered it too! We'll be ready to kick Zabuza's butt in no ti-."

"Why do you keep trying? It's useless, Gato will kill you all!" Inari suddenly exclaimed angrily.

Naruto answered the boy's statement by laughing loudly, slapping his hand lightly on the table.

"Little boy please. He may be able to oppress _you _into thinking he's invincible, but we are shinobi and we're more than a match for a malicious midget with money," Naruto said, still trying not to chuckle. He grabbed his glass of water and sipped at it while eyeing Inari with amusement.

"You ninja are idiots! I'd hate to be like come here acting all high and mighty but you don't know anything! There's no such thing as heroes! You know NOTHING about how hard life is!" Inari exclaimed tearfully.

Tenshi winced at those words and looked at Naruto, but it was already too late. The table went totally silent as the glass in Naruto's hand shattered as soon as Inari uttered those last words. To his credit, Naruto didn't even flinch as he embedded glass into his own hand, his fist now oozing blood and water. Inari glared at naruto tearfully but the next moment his glare turned to a cower as Naruto began to leak KI in large amounts. The very air seemed to become electrified and Inari's ears roared under the pressure Naruto was exerting. He could almost see the emanations of chakra coming from the blonde like heat waves, his hair rippling in an invisible up-draft. Naruto's eyes were shadowed under his hair but as he slowly looked up at Inari, the little boy was terrified by the blood red slits glaring back at him.

"Naruto that's enough!" Kakashi shouted, hoping no one else noticed the changes in the blonde.

"I know nothing of a hard life? **I know Nothing?** Let me play a song for you on the world's smallest fucking violin _boy, _you know only hard days. You have a roof over your head, a family that feeds and clothes you. You aren't ignored by your village, you aren't scorned and treated like the plague for something beyond your control, you aren't refused service from stores, you don't have to eat out the trash when you can't pay for your own food. You're the one who doesn't know a hard life. You say it's hopeless to keep fighting, do you tell that to Tazuna-san too? Do you tell your own grandfather he's going to die? Does he look like he's going to abandon all hope just because your cry-baby, self-pitying ass tell him to?** Kaiza was a true hero you little punk and you spit on his memory with your cowardice!**" Naruto roared at Inari while the boy trembled under his fierce eyes.

_Flashback..._

_Team 7, Kakashi, Inari, Tazuna and Tenshi sat around the dinner table while Tsunami cleaned the dishes from their meal at the sink. Sakura, restless, decided to ask Tsunami if she needed any help but was politely refused. Having nothing to do, Sakura looked around the room, hoping something would spark a conversation to break the uncomfortable silence. She spotted a picture on the wall next to the doorway, but there was something wrong with it. It showed a smiling Tazuna, Inari and Tsunami, while Inari was having his hair ruffled by a fourth figure. However it appeared that someone had ripped off whoever was in the corner._

"_Excuse me," Sakura asked the room. "This picture is torn... is there some reason for that? Inari you kept glancing at it all through dinner. It looks like there was someone else in the picture but they got torn out... I mean it's kinda strange isn't it?"_

_Tazuna, Tsunami and Inari all stiffened at Sakura's query as she turned to look at them. Even Kakashi seemed mildly interested as he turned his head their way, though his one visible eye was full of its usual apathy. Tsunami continued cleaning the plate in her hand for a moment more before she set it back into the sink and leaned on the worktop. Tenshi could see the tension in the way Tsunami held herself and began thinking Sakura's question wasn't so wise._

"_It's my husband..." Tsunami said curtly, her tone of voice making it clear that she didn't really want to talk about it._

_Tazuna looked down at the table._

"_They used to call him a hero in this land..." he said sadly._

_As soon as he said this Inari got out his seat and walked out the room, ignoring Tsunami as she called after him. The door shut and Tsunami whirled on Tazuna with an angry gaze before berating him._

"_Father you can't talk about him in front of Inari, you know that!" she exclaimed angrily, choking up slightly as tears began to form in her eyes._

_She followed Inari out of the kitchen with an angry huff after this, leaving Tazuna and the Konoha shinobi alone. There was silence for a few moments as everyone avoiding each other's eyes, not knowing what to say. Tazuna gave a pained grunt as he continued to gaze down at the table's surface. It was again Sakura who broke the silence._

"_Inari's so... I mean what happened to him?" She asked, confused._

"_Hmm... is there a story behind this?" Kakashi asked, turning to Tazuna._

"_... he wasn't his real father, he came into our family later... and he brought so much happiness, he and Inari were very close," Tazuna explained slowly, in a tired voice._

_Naruto looked at the picture and was shocked by the difference between the present Inari and the Inari shown in the picture._

"_In those days Inari used to laugh all the time," Tazuna continued, his voice becoming slightly happier as he remembered those days. Then reality set in again and Tazuna tensed up, his hands shaking with anguish. "But then..."_

_Everyone looked at Tazuna silently, listening with rapt attention. Tears hit the the table as Tazuna continued shaking slightly, his face shadowed over._

"_All that ended... he never laughs or smiles anymore. Ever since the day everything changed... the word 'courage' was stolen from Wave Country, we were left feeling powerless, hopeless and Inari suffered the most. Ever since THAT day... ever since IT happened..." Tazuna choked out, his voice thick with tears._

"_Tell us," Kakashi probed gently. "What happened to Inari?"_

_Tazuna seemed to gain control over himself again as his tears stopped. He took his glasses off and wiped at his face to dry his tears._

"_First you need to know about the man, his father," he said as he did this. "The man who taught us the word _courage_,who was a hero in this land."_

"_A hero? Really?" Naruto asked, impressed._

"_Decide that for yourself. He came here about three years ago..." Tazuna began._

_He went on to explain how Inari met Kaiza after a trio of bullies had tried to steal his dog 'Poochy' from him, only to end up throwing the poor animal off a pier. At the time Inari was unable to swim and was kicked into the water after Poochy and left to drown. Interestingly enough, at that exact moment Poochy learned how to dog paddle and swiftly swam to safety, only to be chased after by the bullies, leaving Inari to drown. He'd awoken later next to a fire and a fisherman named 'Kaiza' who'd taught the bullies a lesson as well. Afterwards Inari and Kaiza had talked and Kaiza had imparted these words to Inari. _"Live your life so you have nothing to regret. If you have something you care about, protect it with both your arms, no matter how tough, no matter how sad, even if you have to put your life on the line! Never give in!"_ Kaiza had been a simple fisherman from another land who'd come to Wave to follow his dreams. After that incident, Inari and Kaiza were inseparable and since Inari had never known his real father it meant a lot to him to have someone like Kaiza in his life. Then Tazuna told them of the incident that made Kaiza a hero when he risked his life to jump into a raging current after a floodgate had opened, threatening to flood the entire Lower District of the village._

"_That's incredible..." Naruto murmured, much to Tenshi's and Sakura's agreement._

_Sasuke simply Hn'd..._

_Tazuna continued on for a short while afterwards, explaining how Gato arrived and took over, terrorizing the town into obedience, and how only Kaiza was brave enough to stand up to him. It took Gato's entire group of thugs to take down one man and even then he hadn't yielded. In the end, Gato had Kaiza brutally beaten and publicly executed in front of the entire village, including Inari. Afterwards the boy simply gave up all hope and began telling anyone who showed any optimism that it was pointless._

_End Flashback..._

"Naruto you are out of line!" Kakashi retorted loudly, glaring at his blonde and irate student.

Naruto ignored Kakashi and stood up from the table breathing heavily. He gave Inari one last glare before turning away and walking to the front door, his shoulders tense with anger. He reached the front door and opened it, pausing at the doorway.

"Naruto... where are you going?" Tenshi called after him.

"I'm going to show this little coward that there are still heroes, that there is always hope," Naruto replied tiredly without looking back. "I'll be training in the woods."

The finality of the slamming door was deafening. As soon as it closed Inari ran from the table sobbing, gaining sympathetic looks from Tsunami, Sakura and Tazuna, an indifferent look from Kakashi and Tenshi, and a cold look from Sasuke. Tsunami let out a small sob of her own and dropped her head, gazing forlornly at her plate while Tazuna sighed heavily. He glanced around at the remaining shinobi left at the table and took a swig from the bottle of sake sitting on the middle of the table.

"You'll have to forgive Inari. He's very young so it's hard for him to understand," Tazuna eventually said.

"Kakashi-sensei, why did Naruto say all those things? Surely he didn't mean-," Sakura began.

"He did," Kakashi interrupted. "And he was telling the truth, but it's not my place to discuss. If you want to know more, you should ask Naruto himself."

Sasuke and Sakura were similarly shocked by Kakashi's admission and began to re-think their opinions of their team mate. _'Maybe the do-... Naruto could understand,' _Sasuke thought to himself. _'But he's gained what he never had and what I had but lost. He'd only truly understand if it was taken away.' _He glanced at the door Naruto had departed from, his thoughts focused on his wayward team mate.

_Outside..._

Naruto growled as he lashed out against a nearby tree, cratering his fist into the trunk slightly. _'That damn brat, who the hell does he think he is? Yeah he's been dealt a crappy hand but that doesn't give him the right to...,'_ he thought angrily. Naruto left his train of thought to derail itself as he took a deep calming breath. He continued to walk into the forest for a while until he found himself in a small clearing with flowers growing around its edge. Concluding this to be an ideal spot Naruto crossed his fingers together.

"_**Tajuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu!**_" he cried.

With a resounding series of pops and a great plume of smoke Naruto was surrounded by around fifty of himself. Unclasping his hilt from his belt, Naruto flicked his wrist causing the giant Claimh Solais blade to burst into existence. His clones around him mimicked his action and soon the entire clearing was lit up with glimmering crystal blades. Naruto didn't say anything as he entered a rough but loose kenjutsu stance and beckoned his clones. With a roar he charged into the melee and his training began.

0o0o0o0o0o0

The light of early morning pierced the treetops, illuminating the clearing where Naruto had trained the night before. The blonde jinchuriki lay on the grass sleeping, the area around him covered in cuts and deep gouges. A figure moved between the trees like a wraith, unnoticed until it came upon the genin. This figure appeared to be a young girl, in her early teens, with hazel eyes, a pale but flawless complexion, and long black hair. She wore a simple dress and a black choker around her neck. She carried a small wicker basket already somewhat filled with herbs and various plants. _'That kid... he's the one with the sword. Zabuza-sama would probably be better served if I simply got rid of him here,' _the girl thought as she noticed the sleeping blonde. However Zabuza's accomplice had left all her weapons behind and trying to smother the blonde would wake him, which would lead to a fight and most likely draw attention to the area.

"Stomping on my throat would probably have a better chance of killing me than choking me," Naruto suddenly said as he slowly got up. "Even if it didn't I'd be paralysed with pain..."

"I'm sorry I don't know what you me-," the girl began.

"You're the fake hunter-nin that saved Zabuza. I recognise your scent," Naruto interrupted, his face expressionless.

"Are we going to fight now?" she asked in response.

"I don't see why. You're unarmed and I've only just woken up so I doubt either of us could fight effectively, specially since my back feels like shit," Naruto replied as he stretched, eliciting a series of pops and cracks from his spine.

"I see. Well what happens now then?" the fake-hunter replied.

"You could start with your name, since you already know mine," Naruto answered.

"H-Haku... is this some convoluted strategy of yours? Become friends with your enemies?" Haku asked in surprise.

"Well right now you're not my enemy," Naruto shot back with a grin. "Are you?"

Haku could only gape in astonishment at Naruto. Surely he realised that he could incapacitate her and interrogate her about Zabuza or Gato? Instead he was acting like they were regular people who had just met. It was all Haku could do to not face-fault at Naruto's fool-.

"I'm not going to attack you or interrogate you if that's what you're thinking," Naruto cut into her train of thought. "In fact I'd prefer if we could both walk away from this encounter on amicable terms."

Haku grimaced as she finally realised this blonde was smarter than he appeared. He seemed to know what she was thinking but apparently had a different view on what was the 'correct' course of action for a shinobi. Naruto gave a short sigh and finally stood up, noting that Haku was around the same height as him, though no where near as broad shouldered and too soft spoken. He quickly glanced at Haku's neck and while the choker did make it harder to notice, he couldn't see an Adam's Apple which indicated that Haku was a girl.

"Why should I trust you?" Haku asked in response to Naruto's last statement. "If you're truly as cunning a shinobi as you've let on, you should know it is the most logical course of action to capture me and extract as much information as possible."

Naruto snorted.

"Logical? I've never been one to do everything 'by the book' or do things the 'true' shinobi way," he replied. "Why do you even work for Zabuza anyway? No doubt you've seen what it's like in Wave, why would you want to help make these people suffer?"

"It is not my place to question Zabuza-sama. He is most precious to me and I shall help him fulfil his dreams... no matter the cost," Haku responded coldly. "Do you have precious people Naruto?"

"I do. I'd give my life to protect them and it's from my desire to protect them that I've become so much stronger... but it's not enough," Naruto answered quietly. "I need to become truly strong so that the things I have now that I didn't have before, that everyone else takes for granted, are never taken away."

"You already know how to be strong Naruto. I believe you will become truly strong, if you hold to what you have told me," Haku said with a small smile.

"You know, under different circumstances we could've been friends Haku... we still could be," Naruto said, a tinge of sadness entering his voice.

"I would like that Naruto. However your goals and Zabuza's are not compatible... I have no choice," Haku replied.

"Of course you do! Even Zabuza has a choice! You really think a greasy little bastard like Gato is actually going to pay you after going out of his way to hire _missing ninja_? A self-serving dick like him will probably try and turn you in and claim your bounties than pay you and let you be on your way!" Naruto challenged angrily.

Now it was Haku's turn to become angry.

"Zabuza needs this work! He needs the resources so that he can challenge the Mizukage and end this destructive civil war!" Haku exclaimed.

"I call bullshit! If Zabuza were so concerned about the civil war he wouldn't have flaunted the fate of Tenshi's clan in her face!" Naruto nearly shouted. "You really think a guy like Zabuza, who treats people like tools, would make a good Mizukage?"

Haku chose not to respond to this, instead opting to turn away from Naruto.

"I see. I'm sorry we can't see eye to eye on this matter," she said softly, causing Naruto to wince at his own words. "The next time we meet will be as enemies. I suggest you don't hold back."

With those words, Haku left the clearing leaving Naruto alone with his guilt.

_Some time later..._

It was nearing noon when Naruto returned to Tazuna's house, much to the relief of Tenshi and Kakashi. Sasuke and Sakura had been assigned to watch over Tazuna during the work on the bridge today, leaving Kakashi and the Tsurara scion by themselves. Kakashi had attempted to converse with the girl but she seemed withdrawn and somewhat moody, having snapped at him once or twice. In all fairness, Kakashi couldn't blame her if what Zabuza said about her clan was true.

"Naruto you're back!" Tenshi exclaimed with relief.

"Naruto... did your training go well?" Kakashi asked.

"I think I've finished my new jutsu Kakashi-sensei... but I need to ask you a favour," Naruto replied uneasily.

"Oh?"

"I need to take Tenshi with me and try to find her clan. What Zabuza said rubs me the wrong way and I need to make sure the Tsurara are okay," Naruto said. "According to Tenshi they were actually not too far from here, on one of the outlying islands."

"You think you could find them? Even if you could, we have a mission to complete," Kakashi replied.

"I know but we won't be gone long and if we do find them they might have weapons or tools we could use to help us when Zabuza returns, or even something about his sword that would work to our advantage," Naruto answered, trying to sway Kakashi.

"Hmmm... I have severe doubts about this Naruto but you do have a point, since Tsurara-san's clan did create the Kubikiri Houcho..." Kakashi said, clearly thinking about it. "Very well, I'll allow it but you have 24 hours to find them before I want you both back here. If I'm right then Zabuza should be ready to move in about two days and I want us to be ready for the engagement."

Naruto and Tenshi both sighed with relief at this. It had been Tenshi's plan to try and return to her clan's last home during the mission when Zabuza given her the dire rumour. With Kakashi's blessing the two swiftly left and managed to acquire a map of the various islands around Wave. After consulting it, Tenshi directed them both to a small island about half a kilometre from Wave's north-eastern most shore. Naruto decided it would be much faster if they simply ran across the water, however Tenshi didn't have the reserves Naruto did so about halfway across he had to carry her. Reaching the sandy shoreline of the island, Naruto peered at the forestry directly ahead of them.

"So somewhere in this forest is where your clan set up their home?" Naruto asked.

"Yes Naruto... we were a _hidden_ clan after all, so it makes sense that we would hide our location," Tenshi replied, trying not to let her worry show.

Naruto nodded and let Tenshi lead on. They walked between the trees for almost an hour before Naruto felt something. He couldn't tell what it was but he had the sudden compulsion to go to the right. After calling Tenshi back to him he walked through the trees for a few minutes, stopping at seemingly random intervals before continuing on. Tenshi followed in his wake, curious and more than a little apprehensive about whatever Naruto was sensing that she couldn't. After a few more minutes the tree gave way to a small clearing with a cave set into the side of a tall cliff. Naruto stared at the cave in wonder, the feeling even more intense than it was before. Something within was calling to him, or at least that's what he thought. It was like his hands tinges whenever he faced in the cave's direction and it made him want to go closer.

"I've never been here before," Tenshi muttered behind Naruto. "Our clan never explored much of this island seeing as we wanted to keep to ourselves. We didn't know if there were any other inhabitants."

Naruto nodded silently and slowly made his way towards the cave, trying to see anything beyond the darkness. Even his enhanced vision was left wanting in the complete darkness beyond however, so Naruto was left with no alternative and made his way inside. Tenshi paused for only a moment before following after him. The cave was blacker than the darkest night and every step they took resounded around them. It felt more like walking in a tomb than inside a geological formation. Naruto squinted through the inky blackness around them and nearly jumped out his skin when he saw... something moving just beyond his field of vision. He heard nothing but Tenshi's breathing behind him and this put him on edge.

"I don't think we should be in here," Tenshi said, her voice trembling slightly. "I've never liked the dark..."

"_It is not the darkness you should fear... but what it hides."_

Now Naruto was definitely freaked out. That voice sounded like it came from behind them yet when he turned around he couldn't see anything. For that matter, where was the entrance to the cave? They had been walking in a straight line and should be able to see the opening and the light beyond but they were surrounded by nothing but shadow and darkness. Tenshi instinctively took Naruto's hand in her own after groping through the dark.

"Who's out there!" Naruto challenged with a hint of his usual bravado. "Show yourself!"

"_Most amusing... this mortal believes it may command us..."_

Naruto saw more movement out of sight, or at least he thought he could. In all honesty he could barely see his own hand in front of his face. However, this wasn't going to stop him from finding whatever was out there and kicking its ass for threatening them.

"I think it's time we added some illumination to our discussion!" Naruto declared before he drew Claimh Solais and pushed the blade into the earth at his feet, thanking Kami he missed his toes.

As he released the hilt the blade once again began to glow brightly, casting light around the cave. Naruto was awed at just how big the cavern they were standing in was, even with all the light he couldn't see the ceiling. He looked around and saw that he and Tenshi were at the edge of a steep cliff inside the cave, with the bottom being shrouded in even more darkness. However, even with all the light Naruto still couldn't see where they had come in from.

"_So you banished the shadows for a time... impressive. If you wish to reach us... you must take a leap of faith."_

Naruto frowned at the whispers all around them. Behind him Tenshi was trembling slightly. Naruto was talking to himself and seemed to be listening to a voice only he could hear. She had been relieved when he lit up Claimh Solais but now she was concerned that naruto wasn't himself. Her eyes widened in shock when Naruto grabbed Claimh Solais and continued pumping chakra into it to keep the blade illuminated and stepped off the edge of the cliff just ahead.

"NARUTO!" she cried.

Naruto swiftly vanished into the darkness below, where even the light of Claimh Solais was swallowed. _'He left me here...'_ she thought in shock.

"Ten-chan!"

"Huh?" was her intelligent reply.

"It's a visual based genjutsu! I only fell about ten feet! Come down!" Naruto's voice called up to her.

Tenshi hesitated, wondering if her fear of the dark was playing with her mind, however she steeled her resolve and hopped off the edge of the cliff as well. She immediately panicked but was relieved when she did indeed only fall ten feet, landing on her feet softly in a well lit cavern. Naruto was beside her looking ahead. She glanced over and gasped at what she saw before them. It was some kind of shrine, the altar made of black stone with a pair of tall candle-holders burning black candles. Behind the altar was a menacing statue depicting some sort of serpentine head. It had a long snout and a heavy overbite with a row of sharp looking fangs, reptilian eyes and a small beard of what appeared to be hair on it's chin. A pair of sharp looking horns crowned its head and it's mouth was open in a snarl. Held between its teeth was a massive scroll, the parchment yellowing with age. It was clearly ancient and yet to have survived this long...

"Those candles..." Naruto muttered.

Tenshi glanced at them and was surprised to see that they hadn't begun melting, even though they'd been burning for almost five minutes now. If those candles never burned down... could they have been lit for as long as that scroll had been there? Tenshi didn't know how such a thing was possible except...

"Seals... look Naruto, there's some kind of seal carved into the wax," she said suddenly.

Naruto noticed them as well after giving the mysterious candles a closer look. It was hard to see them against the black of the wax but there was a seal on each candle, which could explain how they'd kept burning for so long. Naruto surprised Tenshi once again when he stepped forward, walking towards the scroll in the statues mouth. She felt compelled to call Naruto back but refrained from doing so when a glimmer caught her eye. She turned when the flash of light entered the corner of her field of vision and gasped audibly. Sitting in a small pile in a corner of the cavern was a mass of golden coins and precious gems the likes of which she hadn't seen before. She fought down the urge to run over and begin sifting through it when she was reminded of her father's stories of tomb raiders being slain by booby-trapped caches like the one she was seeing. Meanwhile Naruto had reached the statue and eyed the scroll carefully. There didn't seem to be any traps around or on it and so the young blonde reached out and touched it... only to let out a shout of shock when the statue's jaw suddenly snapped closed on his arm.

"Naruto!" Tenshi cried out in surprise.

"I'm okay, it hasn't hurt me... but I'm stuck, I can't pull my arm free," Naruto replied in a strained voice as he attempted to loosen the statues hold on him.

A sudden and ominous rumble echoed through the cavern.

"... Uh oh," Naruto said worriedly.

The ground below them started to tremble slightly and Naruto suspected that the statue had been trapped to cause this. He cursed his own stupidity for getting them in this situation before he blinked when he saw Tenshi come up to his side and attempt to pull his arm free as well.

"Ten-chan, you've gotta get out of here now!" Naruto shouted over the steadily rising rumbling.

"I'm not leaving your side Naruto!" Tenshi shouted back, struggling with his trapped appendage.

"I'm not giving you a choice Tenshi! Get out of here now, THAT'S AN ORDER!" Naruto shouted back.

Tenshi's eyes widened in shock at Naruto's words. He had never given her, Ken or Hinote an order before despite the fact that he could. To hear him giving one now made it clear to her just how serious he was. Naruto looked at Tenshi with an expression of stone as she fought with herself. Meanwhile Naruto could hear small stone coming loose around them as the cave destabilized. In a matter of minutes or even seconds the cavern would come down on their heads and Naruto would be damned if it killed Tenshi because of him.

"Do it Ten-chan! Go! I'll be fine!" Naruto yelled at her desperately. "Leave me!"

"I... I-I... I can't!" Tenshi cried, her eyes filling with tears. "I won't leave you! I don't care if you're ordering me!"

Naruto blinked and fought back tears of frustration. Rather than argue with her he resumed trying to free himself with renewed vigour. Tenshi went through a few handseals and her right forearm in her left hand. With a crackling sound unrelated to the collapsing cave her hand was covered in a large chunk of ice the size of a small child. The ice took the form of a fist, like an extension of her own hand.

"_**Hyou Baika no jutsu!**_" Tenshi exclaimed as she ploughed her empowered limb into the statue's snout.

Her ice fist shattered like glass on the first strike, leaving no visible damage. Tenshi swore angrily and gave Naruto a sorrowful look. Naruto ceased his futile efforts and looked back at her, not knowing what to say. At that moment however, something decided to speak for him.

"_**Such selflessness... the trapped mortal wishes to be left behind to save the other... the unfettered mortal chooses to stay to save the trapped one..."**_

"Okay... I definitely heard that this time," Tenshi said to herself.

"_**You have passed the test young human... You ignore your greed at the sight of such wealth and instead seek the knowledge of the scroll... Wisdom from such a young creature is a rarity among your kind, even throughout the centuries we have watched your race..."**_

"Who are you?" Naruto asked aloud.

"_**Claim your reward young one, and your question shall be answered...something is about to happen that has not happened... for an age..."**_

With those words the mysterious voice fell silent and the reptilian statue's mouth opened once again, freeing Naruto's arm. As well as this, the tongue of the statue seemed to stretch out, the scroll being pushed towards Naruto, who carefully picked it up. It was surprisingly light despite its size and Naruto was easily able to carry it over to the altar where upon he gently unfurled it.

"This... it's a Summoning Contract," Naruto said in disbelief.

"What?" Tenshi asked as she looked over his shoulder.

It was indeed a contract, however it did not state with what manner of creature it was bound. There was a single name on the scroll before it, written in a strange style that seemed to spell _Sarkhan Vol_. The name meant nothing to either Naruto or Tenshi, however Naruto recalled the Forbidden Scroll's description of Summoning Contracts and was suddenly elated at the thought of being able to summon new allies. Quickly drawing a kunai, Naruto sliced open the tip of his finger and signed his name in blood as well as dabbing all his digits on his right hand in blood and signing the contract with his fingerprints. Almost as soon as he had done so did the scroll seem to light up. Naruto watched in awe as the yellowing, crusty parchment of the scroll was restored to almost mint condition in a matter of seconds.

"Ten-chan, do you want to sign this?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"No thank you, our clan already has a summoning contract," Tenshi replied. "Though I have signed it, I haven't actually summoned from it before."

"Really? Well maybe you can show me later?" Naruto asked, smiling.

"Perhaps... for now I suggest we continue on our original goal," Tenshi replied somewhat tersely.

Naruto winced at this, remembering that they were hear to find Tenshi's family, not play with scrolls. Naruto quickly pulled out one of the two sealing scrolls Hinote had given him and sealed the much larger, bulkier scroll inside and put them safely away into his hip pouch. With the Contract secreted away Naruto and Tenshi were able to find the entrance of the cave within a minute now that the genjutsu appeared to have been lifted. Even the collapsing of the cave had been an illusion as the rumbling and shaking had ceased when the voice had finally spoken to them. Naruto quietly followed after Tenshi as she rushed between the trees towards where she hoped her old clan compound was located. _'I can't believe I let myself get so carried away finding a Summoning Contract... we came out here for Ten-chan and I ignored that in favour of exploring some stupid cave...' _Naruto thought miserably. Tenshi had yet to speak to him again since leaving the cave and Naruto was worried he might have damaged their friendship. He was so immersed in his thoughts that he nearly ran into Tenshi's back. Naruto caught himself in time and stumbled back before looking at what had stopped Tenshi.

"No..."

Naruto and Tenshi had reached the edge of a large clearing where the remains of a small village, more like a hamlet, smouldered. Whatever had happened had left most of the few structures as piles of charred debris and ash. Tenshi simply stood there, unspeaking, unmoving. Her shoulders trembled and she took a single step forward before falling to her knees.

"**!"**

Naruto winced as Tenshi let out a pained cry he was sure no human should have been able to produce. He was about to kneel next to her when she shot forward and began digging through the rubble, all the while shouting names and looking around frantically.

"Tenshi..." Naruto said.

She ignored him as she continued to clear through the burnt support beams of a house.

"Tenshi!" Naruto said louder.

Tenshi found a few kunai and various other weapons beneath the ashes of what was left of her clans armoury.

"Ten-chan STOP!" Naruto shouted.

Finally hearing him, Tenshi turned and collapsed into his chest sobbing uncontrollably. Naruto held her close but offered no words of comfort, not knowing what to begin to say. It was only when Tenshi's sobs dissolved into small whimpers and sniffles that Naruto heard something. It sounded like a low moan coming from one of the outlying structures that were left more intact than the others. Naruto pulled Tenshi off of him and rushed over to the burnt doorway and peered inside. The building appeared to be a small house however the inside was a wreck. Furniture and decorations littered the floor in pieces and scorch marks lined the walls.

"Uuuuugnh..."

Naruto looked around and spotted what appeared to be a human hand poking out from a pile of debris below a large hole in the ceiling. It looked as though the roof had caved in on top of someone...

"Ten-chan, over here!" Naruto called.

Tenshi rushed over with greater speed than Naruto had ever seen and began to dig her way furiously through the rubble. In less than a minute she had managed to uncover the upper half of a woman, her short cropped blue hair dirty with soot and dried blood.

"Kaa-san!" Tenshi cried out.

The woman gave a pained moan and managed a weak cough through her dried and cracked lips. Naruto saw a pool of dried blood beneath her head and knew immediately that moving her would be impossible. Tenshi grabbed her mother's hand and gave it a light squeeze, provoking her into opening her eyes.

"T-Tenshi... it's... you?" she gasped out quietly. "You're alive?"

"Kaa-san, I'm here. Who did this to you?" Tenshi asked, her voice trembling as rivulets of tears streamed down her face.

"Such emotion... you're worried about me?" the woman asked in surprise, staring unseeing at the ceiling of the floor above them. "I'm sorry if I've caused you pain."

"Don't worry kaa-san, we're going to help you," Tenshi said comfortingly.

The elder Tsurara felt teardrops land on her cheek and shuddered as her eyes became more focused. She turned her head slightly towards her daughter, seeing her for the first time.

"You're crying because of me..." she said softly.

"N-no I... I'm crying because I missed you very much..." Tenshi replied, her face betraying her sorrow.

"Because you're my daughter..." Tenshi's mother said quietly.

"That's right," Tenshi whimpered, biting her lips as her tears continued to fall. She sniffed softly, trying to get herself under control.

"I'm... I'm dying Tenshi..."

"I... I know. I know... but I'm here now," Tenshi stammered, trying to hold back her sobs. "Kaa-san I need to go outside for just one second, I'll be right back."

Naruto watched as Tenshi rushed outside, overcome with her grief. He honestly didn't know what to do.

"You... I know you..."

Naruto turned to the Tsurara Matriarch in surprise.

"The son of Minato..." she whispered, her eyes bright.

"Y-Yes Tsurara-san. My name's Naruto," he answered.

She gave a small, weak laugh at his formality.

"P-please... call me... Mitsukai..." she replied weakly. "You and my daughter are close, yes?"

"Very," Naruto answered seriously. "She is one of my closest friends... I love her."

"I-I'm... glad..." Mitsukai whispered hoarsely. "It's good... that you care... for your betrothed..."

Naruto stiffened in shock at this. He and Tenshi were betrothed? Naruto snapped out of his reverie as Tenshi came back in, kneeling next to the broken body of her mother.

"Kaa-san... I'm going to miss you," Tenshi mumbled sadly.

"And I shall miss you... my little angel," Mitsukai replied gently.

She reached up with her free hand and weakly stroked Tenshi's cheek.

"I.. I lo... I love... I... I..."

Naruto watched as Mitsukai's life faded from her eyes and her arm fell limply to her side. Beside him Tenshi gasped.

"M-Mother... nooo..." she whimpered as her head fell.

Naruto and Tenshi watched silently as the remains of the Tsurara Clan's home was burned, a pyre for Mitsukai. Naruto laid his hand on Tenshi's shoulder as they paid their final respects, Naruto especially. It was the second time he had witnessed death, but it wasn't any easier for him. In fact, he felt worse now than when he'd inadvertently killed the Demon Brother. Knowing that this death had such a negative impact on one of his loved ones.

"We were to return here to celebrate with my clan when we're married," Tenshi said suddenly. "But now I'm the last of my clan... my home is gone..."

"Your home is with me Ten-chan. In Konoha," Naruto replied seriously. "And we will be married when I turn 16."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I didn't know how you'd take the news," Tenshi continued.

"You're one of my closest and dearest friends Ten-chan. That we'll be spending our lives together just makes me even happier," Naruto told her comfortingly. "Know that I love you too."

Tenshi turned to Naruto and looked down slightly at his brilliant sapphire eyes. Hesitantly she reached for his face and pulled him into a loving kiss, which Naruto clumsily returned. They stayed like that for almost a minute before separating, blushing. Naruto gave Tenshi his most serious look and spoke words that she had heard once before as a child. She could swear that at the same time Naruto spoke she could hear her mothers words from so long ago.

"_I will be with you, always."_

_That Night..._

It was close to midnight when Naruto and Tenshi returned to Tazuna's home. From their demeanour Kakashi could tell that finding the Tsurara clan hadn't gone as well as they'd hoped. They barely said a word to him but did inform him that they'd managed to retrieve some of the Tsurara Clan's final works and even a few plans for weapons that hadn't yet been constructed. Unfortunately none of it was on par with the Kubikiri Houcho, though the kunai and shuriken were of the finest quality. There were also a few tantos, a nodachi, a katana and some throwing knifes. The throwing knifes were different from kunai in that they could not be used as hand-held weapons but had far greater piercing power and a higher lethality rate if thrown at someone, especially when chakra was channelled into them.

"Well done you two. I'm sorry to hear about your clan Tenshi but we still need to prepare for our confrontation with Zabuza," Kakashi said as they were preparing for bed. "Sasuke reported to me earlier today that a couple of Gato's thugs tried to intimidate the workers on the bridge. They left with a warning that Zabuza is back to full strength and could attack any day now."

With his part said he left the two teens alone and headed for his bed. Naruto and Tenshi looked at one another worriedly before heading upstairs after Kakashi. The lazy jounin had already disappeared into one of the rooms, leaving the two teens standing awkwardly in the hallway.

"Naruto... do you... I mean, would you mind... if I could maybe... stay with you... tonight?" Tenshi managed to mumble out. "I don't want to be alone."

Naruto looked at Tenshi in surprise. He'd only known her for a short time but she'd always been seen by him as a strong, independent girl. He'd dismissed earlier that day since she'd had to watch her mother die, but she'd recovered well. Being the compassionate guy he was, Naruto knew he couldn't refuse her and well... he would love nothing more than to be able to sleep next to the person he cared about most.

"Of course you can Ten-chan," Naruto said softly.

0o0o0o0o0o0

"If you harm him I'll bite off my tongue and you'll have no hostages!"

Naruto's eyes shot open as he sat up swiftly upon hearing Tsunami's shout. His sharp hearing detected the sounds of struggling downstairs and he knew something was wrong. Besides him Tenshi was slowly stirring, disturbed by his rapid awakening. Naruto shook her shoulder gently and Tenshi gazed up at him blearily. Despite the serious situation, Naruto laughed inwardly at this. It seemed even the strongest ninja might not be a morning person.

"Ten-chan, something is going on. Follow my lead," Naruto whispered as he crept out of the futon and towards the stairs.

Both teens had decided to sleep with their clothes on, having only removed their sandals and greaves in Tenshi's case. Tenshi gave herself a quick blast of cold air to help her wake up fully as she followed Naruto silently towards the kitchen area. Upon reaching it, they were shocked to see Tsunami being gagged by a pair of Gato's thugs as they dragged her out of the house, while Inari glared angrily at them from his position on the floor. Naruto was even more surprised when the boy he'd written off as a coward grabbed a kitchen knife and charged at the two men, tears streaming down his face all the while. One the thugs had an eye patch and short hair while the other looked like a clown and wore a beanie over his shoulder length hair. Naruto shuddered when he spotted the clown man, trying to repress his fear of clowns.

"Let go of my mom!" Inari shouted as he ran at the eye patch guy.

Both men wielded a poor-quality katana but they were more than a match for a simple knife.

"This kid's got guts... all the better when I spray them over the ground!" the clown guy exclaimed violently as he swung for Inari.

The man would have been less surprised if the boy had managed to block his swing. On his list of possible outcomes, a ninja appearing in front of him holding a sword the size of a child was not one of them. He wasn't able to adjust his list afterwards as his mental faculties took a permanent vacation from the rest of his body. Inari watched in shock as the head of the clown faced man fell to the ground with a dull thump.

"Waraji!" the man with the eye patch shouted in fright.

This thug's time also ran out as a long, thick needle of metal punched through the front of his chest. He wasn't given an opportunity to turn around as Tenshi booted him in the small of his back off of her lance. Naruto quickly grabbed Tsunami and freed her from her bindings as well as her gag, wincing as she screamed for a few seconds before regaining control of herself. Giving her firm instructions to find a safe place to hide with Inari, Naruto and Tenshi made to leave for the bridge. Before Naruto left however, he turned to Inari.

"You know kid, I was wrong about you. You may not be a great hero, but you're getting there," he said with a foxy grin.

With those words he leapt after Tenshi and vanished into the trees.

_At the bridge..._

Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura made their way with Tazuna to the bridge, feeling nervous the whole time. According to their 'illustrious' client the bridge would be finished in a few days if they were able to keep their current pace. Kakashi frowned as the bridge came into few, covered with a rising fog from the sea. It was very quiet... Too quiet. The three shinobi and their client had made it to the bridge without incident, And that made Kakashi uneasy. He was sure they might be attacked by now. His hand was already hovering near his kunai pouch. Glancing to his female student he noticed that she was just as agitated, her eyes darting around as she trembled. Sasuke himself was doing his best to swallow his fear. This wasn't the time for anxiety. It was funny, he was almost shaking in fear, but at the same time he felt... anticipation. He wanted to fight. He wanted to test himself.

"Relax," his sensei's words knocked the Uchiha from his thoughts. "Agitation won't do you any good. Just keep alert. You'll need everything you've got for this."

Sasuke nodded, and looked ahead as they left the dirt path and approached the bridge, already concealed in the morning mist. As they walked onto the steel and concrete monolith of engineering, Kakashi suddenly held out his hand to stop, startling his students. Sasuke and Sakura glanced to him in confusion. Kakashi ignored them for the moment and closed his uncovered eye. Then, to the surprise of his students, he sniffed the air around them. He repeated this twice more, drawing deep breaths from his nose. Then, as his shoulders tensed and he stood straighter, he opened his eyes… and spoke in a soft tone.

"They're here."

Sasuke and Sakura drew kunai from their own pouches and stood near Tazuna, trying to still their breathing as they strained their ears trying to hear the enemy.

"_Hehehe... glad you could make it Kakashi." _

Zabuza's voice sounded through the mist, seemingly from all directions. Sasuke glanced back and forth, watching for any movement.

"_And I see you brought those kids too. I'm glad…"_

"Leave them out of this Zabuza. I'm your opponent remember?" Kakashi spoke to the mist, a kunai already drawn.

"_Hmm… You do have a point there. In that case…"_

Kakashi's eye widened as he heard the familiar sound of air being cut. He Leapt forward, dodging a pair of kunai that screamed out of the mist only a few feet away, then again to dodge another three. The jounin continued to dodge as more kunai and senbon came at him from multiple directions, though never simultaneously. Kakashi almost grimaced, he knew exactly what Zabuza was playing at. He was trying to lure him away from his genin and Tazuna, while never staying in one position for long so that Kakashi couldn't locate him. Well, that had been his plan all along, so he followed Zabuza's lead, and leapt further into the mist, quickly leaving his charges' sight. As quickly as he left however, Sasuke and Sakura were given another fright as he came sailing back towards them, skidding along the smooth concrete surface. Apparently Zabuza's kicks hadn't lost any of their potency.

"Damn," Kakashi muttered to himself. He formed a few handseals for one of his least used jutsu. "_**Futon: Daitoppa!**_"

With a great blast of wind Kakashi managed to disperse the mist around them, revealing Zabuza and another, much smaller figure at his side. Said figure was revealed to be the same hunter-ninja that had saved Zabuza a week earlier, just like Naruto and Tenshi said. The fake hunter was wearing his or her mask still, making it impossible for Kakashi to tell if it was a boy or a girl in the baggy, unassuming outfit. Zabuza lowered his arms from shielding his eyes and frowned towards the cyclopean jounin. Without a word he formed a half-seal and half a dozen mizu bushin formed from the plentiful moisture in the air. Just as silently, Kakashi motioned to Sasuke and the young Uchiha smirked before blurring forward in a burst of speed. The six water clones stood no chance as Sasuke dispersed them quickly and efficiently.

"Well, looks like you have a rival in speed Haku," Zabuza noted idly.

"It appears so Zabuza-sama," his masked companion stated softly.

Even the hunter's voice was difficult to place for Kakashi but his instincts were telling him that the voice was female.

"Take care of the brats Haku, I'm going after the old man!" Zabuza exclaimed as he rushed forward.

He threw a pair of kunai at Tazuna's head however Sakura used her new tonfa to block the thrown knives easily. Meanwhile Sasuke charged towards Haku to intercept. The two teens exchanged flurries of taijutsu, dodging and blocking each others blows. Sasuke grimaced and sped his barrage up a little, catching this 'Haku' off guard but not enough to land a proper blow. His right straight was was parried to the left, which he turned into a full blown roundhouse, which was ducked under. Haku attempted a sweeping kick but Sasuke was prepared for such a counter and pulled his remaining grounded leg up, twirling horizontally in mid-air. He landed slightly to Haku's right and grabbed the offending fist Haku had lashed out at him with. Haku chuckled lightly at this development.

"You fight well Uchiha, however I now hold the advantage," Haku said.

"And how do you figure that?" Sasuke asked smugly.

"One, is the water all around us. And two, is that I now have one of your hands occupied," Haku stated calmly.

Sasuke was about to retort on how that gave her the advantage when, to his great shock and dismay, she began to string seals together _one-handed_. Haku grinned under her mask at the Uchiha's expression. It was always amusing when she pulled this trick on someone for the first time. She finished her seals and stamped on the concrete floor with a foot as she intoned her jutsu.

"_**Suiton Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishō**__**!**_" she exclaimed.

The water splashed around them from the disappated _**Kirigakure**_ jutsu suddenly rose into the air and began forming into thousands of razor thin needles. The surrounded Sasuke and Haku at eye level in a veritable wall of death. With a slight flick of her wrist Haku sent the needles screaming towards Sasuke as she jumped back, over the needles, to avoid the crossfire. Sasuke was left with one route of escape that Haku's jutsu didn't cover. Above. With a quick crouch Sasuke launched himself into the air and out of harms way just as the needles impacted his previous position, tearing into the concrete easily. Knowing he was exposed in mid-air Sasuke twisted his body as hard as he could, winding back as he hurled some kunai and shuriken at Haku, forcing her to jump back once again. Sasuke burst into motion as soon as his sandals touched the surface of the bridge, rushing back into melee range of Haku. However, as he engaged her in a furious exchange of hand to hand combat, he refrained from trying to pin her.

"You're more skilled than I gave you credit for Uchiha," Haku commented. "Unfortunately, you are not skilled enough."

Sasuke snorted.

"Hn, we'll see about that," he said smugly.

He lashed out with a straight kick that Haku blocked with her forearms. She was shocked to find that she was unable to throw him back however, as was her plan. His foot was literally glued to her arm! Sasuke smirked and pulled his foot back, dragging Haku with it, and slammed his other foot right into her masked face before he released his chakra and flipped back. Haku was thrown away from him and hit the ground harshly. She rolled once but managed to right herself easily enough, her mask in pieces along the bridge between them. Haku scowled fiercely at Sasuke as she stood. That kick had _hurt_. Without warning she went through a short series of mysterious handseals and Sasuke found the cool morning air around them becoming much more frigid.

"_**Hyoton Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshōu!**_" she said coldly.

Sasuke heard it before he saw it. The cracking sound of ice forming rapidly. He looked around and was shocked to find himself surrounded by giant mirrors. They were easily seven feet tall and three feet wide, and who knows how thick. He could almost feel the large amount of chakra saturating the air and mirrors around him. The large slabs of ice had formed a floating dome around him and Haku, who was smirking at him in a disturbing manner.

"This is my bloodline Uchiha. My chakra allows me to combine the elemental natures of Water and Wind to create Ice. While it is true that other ninja can replicate this to some degree, my bloodline lets me do this instinctively and to a much greater degree," Haku explained smugly. "You are now trapped within my Demonic Ice Mirrors. And there is no escape."

With that said she stepped back towards one of the mirrors... and right into it. Sasuke was shocked as Haku sank right into the mirror as if it were made of water. Suddenly he could see Haku in every mirror around him, reflected a few dozen times. He couldn't tell which one was the real Haku but he was willing to bet his undeveloped Sharingan that she wasn't in the mirror she had stepped into. With a frown he formed a few handseals and breathed in deeply. Unable to speak it he mentally shouted _"Katon: Gogakyu no jutsu!"_ and let loose a massive fireball from his lips. The raging fire slammed into a mirror he had randomly faced and a huge cloud of steam rose into the air. Sasuke waited a few moments but was disappointed to see that the mirror was completely undamaged.

"These mirrors are imbued with my chakra. You'll need a hotter flame than your body can produce to melt these," Haku taunted from all around him.

Each reflection simultaneously reached up and slowly, mockingly tapped their fingers on the inside of their mirror. Sasuke felt his anger rising at this and rushed for one of the gaps between the mirrors. Suddenly he fell to the ground, clutching his leg in pain. A senbon was stuck in the area just above his knee! He hadn't even seen it coming. With a grunt of pain he pulled the thin needle from his leg and stood, backing away from the gap he had ran towards. He glanced left, right and all around himself, watching carefully for the next attack... _There!_ He spun sideways away from the next barrage of senbon and managed to avoid them all, however he knew that unless he could get Haku out of those mirrors, he was stuck and couldn't dodge needles forever.

"_**Kyo Ryoku no Jutsu: Hōryū Raika!**_"

Sasuke jumped in fright as one of the mirrors behind him suddenly exploded in a deluge of water and electricity, sending shards of ice everywhere. Haku turned towards the disturbance with interest as the smoke cleared, revealing a smirking Naruto and Tenshi.

"Yo Sasuke! Need a hand?" Naruto asked casually.

_With Kakashi..._

As Zabuza charged towards Tazuna, the Kubikiri Houcho dragging through the concrete as if it were paper, Kakashi leapt in his path with a kunai in each hand. Zabuza grinned under his mask of bandages and twisted his body to the left, swinging the zanbatou in a huge arc. Kakashi brought up both his kunai and Zabuza was shocked as he actually blocked it. He must have channelled chakra into the kunai to be able to withstand the blow. Zabuza winced when he saw Kakashi's mismatched eyes glaring at him, showing that he'd unleashed his Sharingan already.

"Hmph, you can't fool me with your monkey tricks this time Kakashi," Zabuza snorted at him.

"No enemy I've fought has seen my Sharingan twice and lived," Kakashi retorted.

Zabuza growled as he pushed his blade against Kakashi's causing the jounin to slide backwards and away from him. Kakashi stared in surprise as Zabuza then began a series of handseals that he began copying instinctively. They finished at the same time and both cried out in unison,

"_**Suiton: Teppodama!**_"

Twin cannonballs of water shot at their respective targets, colliding in a large spray of water that concealed Zabuza from Kakashi's sight temporarily. It was a clever tactic of Zabuza's when Kakashi saw more mist forming. This mist however was even thicker than the regular Hidden Mist jutsu.

"_**Suiton: Daikirigakure no jutsu...**_" Zabuza stated smugly from within the mist.

Kakashi tensed when he realized that the mist was so thick it would be impractical to simply try and blow it away. He gave it a small attempt anyway just in case but was dismayed when his minor wind jutsu punched through a small portion of the mist around him as if it were a wall, leaving a small gap in the mist around him that sealed almost instantly. Kakashi ducked suddenly as the Kubikiri Houcho tried to take his head off, sailing over his hair as he tucked himself into a forward roll. As he regained his footing, Kakashi stilled his breathing as best he could. Zabuza would probably be able to find him eventually by listening to his heartbeat but so long as he remained as silent as possible it would take longer and drain more chakra from Zabuza as he fed the mist. Kakashi nearly stumbled when the sound of an explosion and the crackling of electricity rang somewhere behind him. Unfortunately Zabuza was able to home in on the sound and Kakashi was forced to leap backwards as the zanbatou nearly bisected him. _'This is getting dangerous...' _Kakashi thought worriedly. _'There's so much mist I can barely smell him. I need support...'_

_Back with Sasuke and Naruto..._

"Ten-chan, can you get the Kubikiri Houcho off of Zabuza?" Naruto asked over his shoulder.

"No problem. _Meshiyoseru seizo moto!_" Tenshi exclaimed, flaring her chakra.

Tenshi waited for her family technique to take effect. And waited. After around twenty seconds she began to panic slightly. _'It's not working? How? I know Zabuza is here and I can sense the Kubikiri Houcho!'_ she thought hysterically.

"Naruto, it's not working!" she cried.

Naruto grimaced, but his grimace turned to a look of shock as he was forced to dodge a handful of senbon. Sasuke mirrored his actions as more needles were sent at him. Tenshi quickly linked up with them both and they stood back to back in a tight triangle in the middle of the dome. Sasuke glanced back at Naruto in awe, the power of his and Tenshi's collaboration jutsu leaving him almost speechless. His best jutsu hadn't even scratched one, yet they managed to destroy a mirror completely. He felt a pang of jealousy but crushed it down, it wasn't the time or place for such feelings.

"Can you two do that collaboration thing again?" Sasuke asked, wincing as a stray senbon stuck into his shoulder while he tried to dodge.

"Nope, it takes way too much chakra to do twice in a row," Naruto answered, a pair of senbon hitting him in the chest but thankfully stopping against his ribs.

Tenshi didn't say a word, focusing on dodging and thinking about how Zabuza had made the Kubikiri Houcho resist her.

"_Well, it seems as though your friends are stuck in here just as surely as you are. Hello again Naruto,"_ Haku spoke throughout the dome, her voice emotionless and as cold as the ice surrounding them.

"We don't have to fight like this Haku! I know we didn't exactly see eye to eye but that doesn't mean we have to _kill _each other!" Naruto shouted. "You don't have to be a tool to anyone!"

"_You simply don't understand... When I had no one and no purpose, nothing but rags on my back, starving and cold, Zabuza-sama saved me. He gave me a purpose in life again and without him I am nothing,"_ Haku replied.

Naruto looked up, his eyes hardened like brilliant chips of sapphire.

"Hypocrite..."

Haku seemed taken aback by this from the reaction of her reflections.

"You're nothing but a hypocrite! You say true strength comes from protecting what's precious to you but you're only protecting yourself! You told me Zabuza is most precious to you but really you're just protecting yourself from loneliness by serving him!" Naruto yelled angrily.

Tenshi shuddered as a heavy wave of KI suddenly filled the dome, drowning them as effectively as water. Sasuke was trembling next to her but Naruto seemed unaffected. He simply glared at one of the reflections as surely as if he was glaring straight at Haku. Needles filled the air as Haku zipped from mirror to mirror at unimaginable speeds, hurling everything she had at them. Naruto, Sasuke and Tenshi fell to their knees as senbon filled their bodies. Nothing fatal but they were practically immobilized as Haku appeared out of the mirrors, stalking towards Naruto menacingly.

"You don't know anything about me! You don't know what it's like to be despised for what you are, feared and persecuted!" Haku spat, her face contorted into an ugly expression of anger.

"Oh I know... and so what? At least I don't cower behind an excuse to give up what it means to be human," Naruto replied tensely, his breathing laboured.

Haku didn't respond verbally. She simply took out a kunai and angrily lashed out at the prone blonde before her. Naruto closed his eyes when the sound of tearing flesh met his ears but he felt no pain. He heard Sasuke slump to the ground behind him and something hit the ground in front of him as well as Haku's surprised gasp. He opened his eyes in surprise, which quickly morphed into shock as he saw Tenshi lying in front of him, a deep laceration in her back welling with blood. The wound stretched from her left shoulder almost down to her right hip and was bleeding profusely, at a rate that Naruto could tell would soon be fatal.

"Brave... but futile," Haku hissed. "You cannot save him."

Tenshi's shoulders shook as she turned her head to Naruto.

"N-Naruto... save... your... self," she trailed off as consciousness left her, her eyes becoming glassy.

Haku simply scoffed and kicked Tenshi's body in the stomach, lifting her off the ground and to the side as she rolled, boneless, to a stop.

"You... **Bitch!"** Naruto growled.

Haku looked down at Naruto in surprise as the air around him began to heat up exponentially. Heat waves rippled off his body and a loud roaring filled Haku's ears as he slowly lifted his head to glare at her, blood red eyes with slit pupils promising a painful death. The concrete around Naruto began to crack from the pressure he was exerting as he slowly stood up, the needles in his body suddenly ineffective. Haku watched in horror as said needles were pushed out of his body by a malevolent feeling red chakra that slowly enshrouded him. His hair grew wilder, nails becoming akin to claws, his fangs becoming much more pronounced as his teeth seemed to grow, becoming larger than his jaw was able to accommodate, forcing him to keep his lips back in a permanent snarl. The whisker like scars on his face turned to deep gouges and sharp cracks could be heard from his snipe as he stood hunched, glaring at her all the while.

"What are you?" Haku asked fearfully.

"**Your worst fucking nightmare," **Naruto growled in a demonic tone.

He swung a loose fist in a backhand at the ground before her, a blast of wind and chakra erupting. Haku was propelled forcefully into one of her mirrors with a sharp cry. She barely had time to look up before Naruto was in front of her, his speed increasing dramatically. Haku put up a pathetic guard that Naruto simply destroyed as he slammed his clawed fist into her face, the force of his blow shattering the mirror behind her as she sailed straight through it. Haku slammed into the ground several metres away, sliding harshly across the concrete, before coming to a dead stop.

"**If you want to live... you'll save Ten-chan,"** Naruto seethed as he once again stood over her, too fast for her to recover.

Haku could barely nod through the pain of her broken nose and jaw, her normally pretty face starting to swell. Hopefully this... beast, would let her and Zabuza go if they surrendered. Haku held no illusions that Naruto would tear Zabuza apart if he tried to stop him. She could only hope that both she and Zabuza would live afterwards.

_With Kakashi and Zabuza..._

Kakashi felt the surge of chakra from Naruto and his blood ran cold. _'Has the seal broken?... no it's only weakened. There isn't much of the Kyuubi's chakra leaking through but I have to end this NOW!'_ he thought. His sensitive hearing picked up the slicing air but he waited until the last second before dodging away from the Kubikiri Houcho as it cleaved a shallow cut into his chest. Kakashi wasted no time in pulling a scroll out of his vest, unfurling it.

"Zabuza, we're both busy men and it appears that my time is running out," Kakashi said, ignoring the _'you've got that right' _from Zabuza. "So how about we end this all with our next move, all or nothing?"

With that said he bloodied his thumb on his wound and spread it across the scroll before slamming it into the ground.

"_**Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu**_," Kakashi exclaimed as waves of dust burst from the scroll, streaming across the concrete of the bridge like something was digging under the surface.

Zabuza simply smirked as he rushed headlong at Kakashi's exposed form. His next step however, was interrupted as a dog burst from under the bridge's surface and latched onto his ankle. At once, all around him, dogs of various sizes burst up and bite into him, a huge bulldog coming up from behind and digging into his shoulder with its massive fangs. Zabuza bit back a scream of pain and settled for seething between his teeth. It seemed that Kakashi had a final trick up his sleeve.

_With everyone..._

The bridge was silent as Zabuza and Haku were incapacitated by the Konoha ninja, either by immobilization or surrender. As Zabuza struggled against the nin-dogs holding him the mist disappated, revealing a tired looking Kakashi as he covered up his Sharingan again. Haku was a few metres away, treating a large wound on the Tsurara girl's back while a menacing Naruto stood over her, red chakra swirling over his body. Sakura gave a short scream when she saw a needle covered Sasuke on the ground and ran to him, heedless of Tazuna's cries to stop. Seeing that he couldn't stop her Tazuna ran after her, staying near the ninja for safety.

"Well Zabuza it looks as though your mission has failed. Your ambition has costed too many lives and its time you repaid the favour!" Kakashi exclaimed as he clutched his right wrist with his left hand.

_'What's he doing?' _Zabuza thought. He was surprised when chakra started gathering in Kakashi's palm, so intense that it became visible. The chakra sparked and crackled wildly as it was converted into raiton chakra. Zabuza had heard of this jutsu in the whispers that surrounded the Copy Ninja. The _**Raikiri**_... If he was hit with that jutsu he would be finished. Just as Kakashi reared his arm back and prepared to charge he was stopped by the sound of slow clapping. The mist at the end of the bridge was clearing, revealing Gato and a swarm of armed thugs.

"Bravo, bravo! That was quite the show! It seems as though you've failed Zabuza, how disappointing," Gato said condescendingly.

"Gato! What are you doing here?" Zabuza exclaimed in confusion.

"I thought it would have been clear to you by now. I'm here to deal with whoever was left from your little confrontation, after all I never really intended to pay you," Gato declared smugly.

"**I totally fucking called that!**" Naruto roared.

Gato turned to Naruto and his smug expression turned to fear at Naruto's demonic features. He quickly turned to the small army behind him.

"Kill them all and I'll pay each of you handsomely!" he shouted in fear.

"**Not so fast!**" Naruto roared at them, causing them to pause.

He stepped forward, reaching into his pocket as he drew out a single coin. He casually flicked it into the air before catching it again.

"**You're obsession with money nearly destroyed this country Gato! It seems only fair... that money destroys you!**" Naruto yelled angrily.

With a powerful flick his coin was tossed high into the air. On the ground, lightning began to fork around Naruto, lancing up and down his arm and he held it at shoulder level, pointing his fist at Gato, who was rooted to ground in fear. Naruto's coin slowly began its descent and Naruto closed his left eye, glaring at Gato with his remaining eye, which seemed to glow an even brighter red. There were no words, no fancy exclamation of jutsu. Naruto simply waited until his coin fell into the path of his fist and with a mighty blast, a great line of red shot from his now extended index finger and screamed towards Gato and his men at such a speed that Kakashi couldn't follow it with his eye. Gato was struck directly by the coin that left a bright red trail of energy in its wake, raiton chakra rippling through the air behind it. Gato didn't even have a chance to scream as the great forces ripped his body apart, the men around him being blasted away by the shockwave of the beam. Naruto glowered as the aftermath of his jutsu was made apparent. There was nothing left of Gato and a small, neat groove in the surface of the bridge was left starting from Naruto feet and ending where Gato had once stood. Naruto slowly lowered his arm and breathed out a sigh as the red chakra left him, his features returning to normal.

"**Raiton: Rerugan...**"

* * *

**And I'll stop here.**

**Thank you everyone for your patience with this chapter. Thankfully I still have almost 2 months before I start University so I'll try to get chapter 7 up before then, now that I have the free time. Kudos to anyone who corrected guessed that Naruto's new jutsu was in fact the Railgun from Misaka Mikoto, the protagonist of To Aru Kagaku no Railgun. In the next chapter I'll also explain the fate of Zabuza and Haku, as well as how Zabuza managed to protect the Kubikiri Houcho from Tenshi's Call of the Maker technique.**

**Jutsu Index:**

**Tajuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu = Mass Shadow Clone Technique**

**Hyou Baika no jutsu = Ice Expansion Jutsu**

**Futon: Daitoppa = Wind Release: Great Breakthrough**

**Suiton Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishō = Water Release Secret Technique: Thousand Water Needles**

**Hyoton Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshōu! = Ice Release Secret Technique: Demonic Ice Mirrors**

**Kyo Ryoku no Jutsu: Hōryū Raika! = Collaboration Technique: Discharge Lightning Calamity**

**Suiton: Teppodama = Water Release: Gunshot**

**Suiton: Daikirigakure no jutsu... = Water Release: Great Hidden Mist Technique**

**Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu = Summoning: Earth Release: Earth Tracking Fang**

**Meshiyoseru seizo moto = Call of the Maker**

**Raiton: Rerugan = Lightning Release: Railgun**

**Stay tuned for more!**


End file.
